AN APPEAL TO THE JEWS, 



TO STIMULATE THEM TO OBTAIN A 



HIGHER STATE OF CIVILIZATION; 



AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS MATTER FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF 



MORAL DISCIPLINE. 



BY 



SEMPER VERITAS. 




SAN FKANCISCO: 
Francis & Valentine, Book and Job Printing House, 517 Clay St, 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by Semper Veritas, in 
the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. All rights reserved. 



INTRODUCTION. 



"When the number and variety of works already pub- 
lished, and the ability with which some are written, to 
abolish social evils, are considered, it may be judged 
presumptuous for one of no pretentions to possess the 
advantages of a classical education, to dictate means to 
dispel the errors of a tribe, who boast of a genealogy 
thousands of years prior to the nativity of the compiler 
of the Ten Commandments, The author of this treatise, 
as the reader will find, has adopted a method peculiarly 
his own, and gives publicity to facts, under the firm 
impression that shame will exterminate human errors, 
when all other measures hitherto attempted, have failed. 
The author feels a particular interest in promoting a 
practice of virtue ; and with this view , he trusts it will 
meet the approbation of every well-disposed person. 
If his course is faithfully regarded, it will doubtless 
contribute very materially to the true happiness of the 
rising generation of the Jewish persuasion. If the 
author has adopted a system, which, on the whole, is 
best suited to the nature of the subject, he may war- 
ran tab ly indulge a hope that the work will be justly 
approved and extensively circulated. If otherwise, he 
is fully prepared to reap the reproof he has meted out 
to others as his just reward. In conclusion he would 
remark, that parties who had perused his first reply, 
Oct. 3d, 1877 (herein copied), to a lecture on "The 
Jew," having requested him to further expatiate on 
the subject, which he, for his part, had concluded not 
to do, has solely prompted him to reaction. And that 
amusement may accompany instruction, matter analo- 
gous has been added to render the work more accept- 
able. 

San Francisco, California, Semper Veritas. 
June, 1878. 



4 



Translation of the Proverbs in the order as they 
appear throughout the work : 

Omnia bona bonis. 

All things are good, with the good. 

Auri sacri fames. 

The accursed thirst for gold. 

Non est omnibus hoc vitium. 
Everybody has not this vice. 

Una golondrina no hace verano. 
One swallow don't make a summer. 

Pret pour raon pays. 

Ready for any purpose for my country. 

Nemo me impune lacessit. 

Nobody shall offend me with impunity. 

Quien mucho abraza, poco aprieta. 

He who grasps at too much, clutches little. 

Spiro meliora. 

I desire improvement. 

Credat Judseus appella. 

Let the circumcised Jews believe it. 

Nunquam sera ad bonus mores via. 
It is never too late to improve. 

Finis coronat opus. 

The end crowns the work. 

Fiat justicia, ruat coelum. 

Let justice be done, though heaven should burst. 

La patience est arriere, mais son fruit est doux. 
Patience is not always agreeable, but its fruit is 9weet. 

Chi tace confessa. 
Silence gives consent. 



DECISION A^D PRINCIPLE. 



Hear, land of Yanks and brither Jews, 
Bead and hear the latest news : 
If there's a hole in a' your coats, 

I rede ye tent it ; 
A chiel's amang you taking notes, 
And, faith, he'll prent it. 

One of the greatest men who ever lived said he 
liked a good hater ; so do I. I hate lying, cheating, 
and every sort of meanness. If a class of people are 
generally mean, low and wicked, say so boldly — tell 
people so. Every man should be, in some degree, a 
moral policeman. The man who has no enemies has 
no real friends. Such a man will lose a friend for fear 
of making an enemy. A good man must have enemies 
among bad men, and he should be prepared for them ; 
which signifies that his knowledge of their iniquities 
is the cause of their hostility, consequently, he should 
be prepared, to be enabled by proof, to expose them. 
A man who is friends with every one is a friend who 
is not worth having. Let women tell tales about each 
other; it is very small business for a man to engage 
in. Besides, men, as a rule, don't understand women, 
and are very like]} 7 to misjudge their motives. Is it 
because a man is a Jew, that he should say that there 
are no mean Jews, and that the major part of them 
are not Democrats ? Is it not mean ; is it not low ; 
and is it not wicked in the extreme to maintain a 
practice which 'has wrought universal contempt on 
their race among honest dealers ? It is certainly not 
an American practice to have more than one price for 
an article ; truly good men despise all such nefarious 
dealing. It is an universal practice throughout all 
benighted countries, as every person who has traveled 



6 



can testify. The man who would sacrifice principle for 
greed is corrupt, he is a slave to avarice, he is unworthy 
of the noble state which constitutes true nobility. The 
man who would rescind one iota of the principle for 
which he is fighting, would make a poor soldier on the 
field of battle, he would not prove himself the hero our 
fore-fathers proved themselves to be when they fought 
for our freedom. The glorious independence ! It is 
every man's duty to protest against mean actions, false 
doctrines and frauds of every kind. Those genial men 
who agree with every one and have nc opinion of their 
own ; who are always afraid of thinking for themselves 
and uttering their thoughts for fear oi giving offense, 
occupy a very contemptible position in a community. 
For example, what may be said of a Frenchman, who 
for pecuniary interest would pass himself off as a Ger- 
man to gain their custom, at the same time assert that 
ere two years transpire, Alsace and Lorraine will again 
be under French rule. Will anybody surmise that such 
as he will be the means of defeating the German legions 
on the field of battle ? Desire is the mother of opinion. 
What is bred in the bone will not depart from the flesh, 
as exemplified by many children who, though driven to 
school in their carriages, by their mean actions furnish 
sufficient proof that they ride in the first that their 
worthy sires ever had the honor of possessing. ( Tal 
padre tal hijo.) They clearly demonstrate their parent- 
age.— Feb. 24th, 1877. Veritas. 

That the reader may not be led to suppose that this 
and the subsequent articles were given publicity with 
any other motive than that the public in general might 
obtain a lesson which might accrue to the advantage 
of those, whose narrow-mindedness of a certain concep- 
tion of right, true dignity and honor, require their 
shamelessness exposed to create a reform ; I have given 
the date of every article as it issued from the press, 
which articles I introduce irrespective of date, when 
the subject is most applicable. 



1 

OMNIA BONA BONIS. 

It is not generally understood what constitutes indi- 
vidual belief, or why persons claim to be of this or that 
religion. The very natural conclusion is, that, like 
every other inveterate practice, it becomes a second 
nature, without in any respect consulting common 
sense, or arguing the point to know if the result of 
following the precepts of any particular dogma acquired 
in youth, will ultimately conduce to purity of action. 
^Children acquire their religion from their parents ; but 
when they arrive at an age compatible, omit to intel- 
lectually investigate for themselves the truth or fallacy 
of the tenets of the doctrine they have hitherto super- 
ficially acquired merely by habit. It is not Circumci- 
sion, Fasts nor Feasts, but the conviction that there is 
only one God, and the conduct in fulfilling the principles 
inculcated by the Creed : the Ten Commandments, is 
what really constitutes a Jew. Solomon, the son of 
David, King of Israel, says : " Whoso rewardeth evil for 
good, evil shall not depart from his house.'' But as he 
has not laid down any maxim for those who administer 
evil for evil, I am induced by natural impulse to treat 
evils as they deserve to be treated ; precisely as one 
nation avenges another nation's wrongs, to wit : The 
ready manner the people of this country will seek to 
fit out privateers to destroy Great Britain's commerce in 
case of war, now, or one hundred years hence ; in re- 
quital of the Alabama's successful destruction of our 
commerce, nevertheless, that the amende honorable has 
been accepted and cancelled. Yet rest assured our 
Government, whatever private interest may urge to the 
contrary, will strictly maintain International law, 
notwithstanding its unmerited observance. Our pro- 
verbial clemency and justice will be prominently 
portrayed in maintaining a strict neutrality, that the 
world may know that this glorious Republic is no sham, 
and that- vindictiveness is not in any manner a blot 



8 



that stains our character, when action may be brought 
to annul our casual boasting expressions. Whatever 
failing our tongues possess, no created human being 
can deny the greatness, goodness, and the sympathetic 
feelings of our hearts, which is evidently proved by the 
following examples : Show me a purely American 
institution where any nationality, creed or color is 
exempt from admission, with every and all of its priv- 
ileges. Is it so with one-ninetieth part of the foreign 
institutions, however they may dub themselves Amer- 
icans, and why ? Because they each and every one 
belie the oath they take when receiving their naturali- 
zation papers; heedless of their pretentions to benevo- 
lence, gratitude, and a stock of pretended religion, 
ignoring their obligations under the sacred transfer. 
Show me an American cemetery where a Jew, a Gentile 
of whatever denomination, Pagan or Atheist, would be 
refused equal rights to burial. Is that the case else- 
where? Is it the few Americans who established the 
Constitution of this great country, and their progeny, 
who have contaminated the fundamental principles then 
established ? No I A thousand times I say, No 1 
The vast deluge of bigots have caused the hostility 
of caste in every branch of our social and political 
spheres. The auri sacri fames is not by half so attrib- 
butable to the true American, as it is to the imported 
paupers from all nations. 



NON EST OMNIBUS HOC VITIUM. 

As Prime Ministers, and likewise the Public Press, 
are invested with the privilege of using their influence 
to suppress or promote war, according to circumstances, 
there indubitably can be no legal authority to debar 
the individual, however obscure his position in society 
may be, the right, by every rule of justice, to expose 
the fallacies and vices of corporations, rings and sects, 
when such become a national calamity and disgrace 



9 



And however I may be ostracised and censured by those 
who will feel afflicted by the caustic truths herein re- 
vealed, I entertain the fullest conviction that I shall be 
sustained by all who are in opposition to see our country 
branded with the disgrace of being compelled to label 
our wares in order to compete with those nefarious 
tradesmen, who, when paid the price they ask for an 
article, without abatement, weep in secret for the loss 
they imagine they have sustained by not having de- 
manded more, ignoring the precept of the Golden Rule 
inculcated by their Rabbies from the parchment roll of 
the Tabernacle, which says : " A false balance is an 
abomination to the Lord, bat a just weight is his de- 
light." In proof that this is not a fictitious work, 
based on a too lurid view of human nature, I shall re- 
late a circumstance that happened about six years ago. 
A lady of my acquaintance who required to purchase 
some silk for a dress, asked me where she was most 
likely to be honestly dealt with ; I recommended her, 
she went, made a purchase ; but subsequently told me 
that she had been charged too much ; I responded that 
she might rest assured that whatever she had paid for 
it, I would guarantee that it could not have been pur- 
chased there for less, as it was a " One Price" house, 
and that immediate expulsion would be the result of 
the least deviation from the established rule. And to 
further convince her and myself that such was the fact, 
I requested the lady to accompany me to the store, and 
jointly, with the proprietor, the piece of silk was pro- 
duced, from which the dress pattern had been cut. The 
Lidy was requested to ask the clerk the price per yard; 
it corresponded with what she had paid ; she retired 
satisfied ; and I more thau either and all of them, as I 
felt proud and rejoiced to know that there still existed 
unstained honor and integrity of thought and action, 
notwithstanding the general atrocious infringement 
on equitable dealing. Nor should I have referred to 
the above circumstance had I not seen to-day in the 



10 



window of the same establishment (differently located ) 
the prices tacked on various articles, tending to prove 
the increased demoralization caused by the practice of 
an abominably dishonest method of dealing, which 
heretofore existed to such an extent as to justify our 
great lexicographer to augment his vocabulary of words 
to portray, by direct allusion, a race whose lenient and 
kind treatment in this great country deserves a contrary 
method of proving their gratitude. And unless a still 
more marked amelioration is promptly established, it 
is very doubtful whether the obnoxious epithet will 
be excluded in the new edition. I have heard of thieves 
being notified to quit a locality; I hear every day threats 
that the Chinamen must go, each of which may tend 
to serve a good purpose; but when a lecturer travels 
from Washington City to San Francisco to diffuse his 
ideas by means of a lecture for a charitable purpose, no 
better action can possibly be imagined, unless it is to 
endeavor to promote an improvement in the present 
demoralized method of transacting business, as no 
greater wrong can afflict a nation than that its moral 
principle should be subverted by shameless dishonesty. 
If an impression may be founded by the medium of a 
lecture, a greater influence may be achieved by thus 
spreading broadcast elucidated facts, under the convic- 
tion that it will cause its readers to think for themselves, 
and I hope and trust will stimulate a reformation in 
dishonesty and untruth. Likewise I assert, without fear 
or trembling, that all the combined losses by burglars 
compare insignificant with those sustained daily by the 
theft practiced on the public by the base trading with 
two prices, and I maintain that no man wiio would at- 
tempt to defraud by deviating from a fixed price, but 
what would likewise lie to serve his purpose in auy 
transactions of more vital importance, which is more 
fully elucidated in the following article : 



11 



LYING. 

The participle present of the verb neuter to lie, on 
which is based the homogeneous principle of every 
vice. It is the first step towards demoralizing the in- 
tegrity of the human character. It is brought into 
requisition to effect every kind of fraud. It is the pre- 
cursor which victimizes the placid countenance of 
candor. Its habitude callously engenders a fortitude to 
attempt the accomplishment of vices which terminate 
in the degradation of the brightest intellect, and precip- 
itates the individual to become the outcast of society. 
Yet notwithstanding, how deplorably cognizant it is to 
all observers that this degrading vice is manifestly mak- 
ing rapid encroachments in every stratum ot our social 
society. Where is the manhood, if the simple word 
cannot be relied on ? What nation can realize a com- 
mercial confidence at home or abroad when its character 
for truth is not substantiated ? How deplorably wretched 
the future of a country is liable to become when its 
people divest themselves of a virtue on which depends 
every species of morality. Lying is as much the hand- 
in-hand associate of vice and cowardice as truth is the 
companion of honor and valor. Lying in jest is but the 
harbinger of the present fertile spirit of untruth now 
predominating to such illimitable bounds that perjury 
is as shamelessly committed as if it were no longer 
considered reprehensible. Parents, beware of the evil 
of allowing your little ones to lie in jest ! The future 
honor of our country is hinged entirely on the advance- 
ment or retrogression of their moral behavior. 

Oct. 26th, 1877. Veritas. 



" Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge, but he who hateth 
reproof is brutish." 

To prove that the American people know well the 
Jew's character, I refer my readers to Mrs. Harriet 
Prescott Spofiard's delineation in " The Point Lace 



12 



Barbe," in Frank Leslie's Monthly, an American 
work. Nor is there a work, ancient or modern, home 
or foreign, where the character for meanness, want of 
dignity, untruth or sordidness are portrayed or repre- 
sented, that a Jew is not chosen to personate it. Nor 
is it unmerited. What greater arrogance and pre- 
sumption could be conceived than when Mr. Wolff 
proclaimed and justified non-intermarriage to be a bles- 
sing, which abrogates the means whereby a purer 
mode of thought and action may be achieved by a me- 
lange with a superior race in honor, truth and valor. 
It is not a generally known fact that the wholsale Jew 
dealers make a distinction of so much per centum dis- 
count to their tribe, which enables the retailers to 
undersell the rate charged by every other denomination. 
The ultimate result of which will be, that the Jews 
will eventually monopolize all the wholesale business 
in this country. I do not argue that they are uot enti- 
tled by every semblance of charity to their tribe to do 
so ; but I do assert, that it is typical of a fear that they 
would be incapable of competing otherwise in commer- 
cial transactions on honorable principles, and that their 
wealth has not been obtained by a fair method of trad- 
ing, notwithstanding the gross flattery of the u N. Y. 
World," which I copy, that they may receive the 
credit their plethoric purses and patronage have stimu- 
lated, and with the same unction I trust the sycophant 
will copy the two articles I contributed to the " Amer- 
can Union " of this city, for the benefit of his proteges, 
dated October 3d, 1877, herein inserted : 

THE JEWS IN SOCIETY. 

[N. Y. World.] 

In conversation with a World reporter during the 
day, Mr. Leopold Bamberger, the Secretary of the 
Jewish Board of Delegates, and a prominent member 
of Jewish society, said: "To any one who knows 
aught of Jewish society in New York, Mr. Hilton's 



13 



wholesale slanders must appear particularly unjust and 
silly. How many of these terrible Jews do you sup- 
pose there are in this country ? Not more than 240,- 
000, and of these one-third are in New York. The 
other 160,000 are scattered over the country; yet such 
is their industry and such their business, activity that 
you hear of them controlling trade in every section. 

In New York City the Jews are largely interested 
in real estate ; they own three times as much property 
as three times their number of Christians of the same i 
standing. They are bankers, or, like Phillips, and 
Hart, and May, and King, they control railroads. They 
have the woolen business largely in their control, and 
every one knows who it is that has the large hat fac- 
tories, tobacco houses and clothing stores. It is safe 
to say that not one per cent, of our people has inherited 
their wealth ; they are essentially a working race. 

"As to our social standing, Mr. Hilton would find it 
difficult to get an entree into our best society, or even 
our middle class society. Take such families as the 
Kings, whom I have just mentioned ; there is Mrs. 
King, of 386 Fifth Avenue, just near Mrs. Stewart's; 
there is the family of Edward J. King, the large fur 
merchant, at 357 Fifth Avenue, just opposite, and 
higher up, at 473, within a few doors of Mr. Vander- 
bilt's, is the house of Mr. George King's family. Mr. 
David James King, of 16 West Forty-fifth Street, is 
of the same family, and married a daughter of Eugene 
S. Ballin, the banker. All the people are sought and 
highly respected in any society, as is Mr. Lewis Ma} 7 , 
who married into the King family, and is known as 
one of the most liberal and philanthropic of our 
wealthy Israelites. Near neighbors of these are the 
Seligmans- — 'Joseph, the cause of all this hotel trouble, 
residing on Thirty-fourth Street, just near Fifth Ave- 
nue, and two doors from his brother James, whose son 
Eugene recently distinguished himself by taking the 
first prizes in every branch of study at Columbia Col- 



14 



lege. Jesse Seligman lives on Forty-sixth Street, near 
Fifth Avenue, and his son is now at Harvard Univer- 
sity, pursuing his studies with much distinction. The 
Seligmans have each handsome cottages at Long 
Branch, just as the other brothers in London, Paris and 
Vienna have handsome summer residences in the out- 
skirts of those cities. Family connections of James 
Seligman are the Walters and Neustadters,of Forty-sec- 
ond Street, bright lights in the brightest society. The 
Messrs. Myers everybody knows, they are in every 
club, every charitable societ} 7 , every distinguished 
gathering. John Myers has one of the handsomest 
houses on Fifty-third Street, near Fifth Avenue. Theo. 
Myers, when he is not at his Long Branch cottage or 
on his yacht, lives in the famil} 7 mansion on Thirty- 
fourth Street, and Angelo Myers resides near by on 
Thirty-seventh Street. The Myerses are connections 
of the Pikes, whose elegant residence at the corner of 
Forty-ninth Street and Fifth Avenue is well known. 
By marriage the family is connected with the Brushes 
of Seventeenth Street, and the Hendricks', of 404 and 
512 Fifth Avenue. The family of Leopold Haas, of 
Thirty-ninth Street, are also family connections. Who 
is there on Wall Street that does not know Julius and 
Adolph Hallgarten, whose elegant houses on Thirty- 
fourth and Thirty-eight Streets are the scenes of many 
a brilliant gathering and many a notable dinner? In 
the same class are Albert and Gabriel Netter, the 
banker, at whose houses on Fiftieth and Forty-seventh 
Streets, near Fifth Avenue, one may meet the real 
intellectual and social aristocracy of the country, as 
one might have done at the house of their father, 
whose position in Cincinnati for years past was among 
the foremost. Nor should I forget the Bernheimers, 
a family long known and honored of all in social and 
business circles. There are perhaps no more elegant 
homes in the land than that of Isaac Bernheimer, on 
Fifty-seventh Street, near Fifth Avenue, or of senior 



15 



Bernheimer of Fourteenth Street, or of Adolph Bern- 
heimer on Madison Avenue, at the corner of Fifty- 
ninth Street. Who can Mr. Hilton find more respect- 
able or cultured than the family of Abecasis, of Forty- 
sixth Street, or the several other families of the same 
standing in the neighborhood. People like the 
Nathans of 575 Fifth Avenue, the Kohns of 485 Fifth 
Avenue, the Solomons of Fifth Avenue, opposite the 
Windsor, who are just now at their country seat at 
Cornwall; the Aronsons, the Einsteins, the Fatmans, 
the family of Mr. Kosenfeld, the large fancy-goods 
importer; the Tobiases, the Henriques, the Stiners — -just 
now at their country seat at Irvington on-the-Hudson ; 
the Steinbergers, the bankers of Exchange Place, now 
at their place at Long Branch — these are Jews and 
Hebrews who may be compared to the best Christian 
or Heathen or Mohammedan society. Of course, 1 have 
not exhausted the list ; there are hundreds of the best, 
most intelligent, and refined families in this city who 
are Jews, and whom it would puzzle Mr. Hilton, or 
any one else, to tell from Presbyterians or Episcopa- 
lians as far as their manners are concerned. I have 
mentioned only a few names. If you want more just 
look at any list of subscribers to Jewish charities, and 
you will find them all there — for all contribute to them." 

Mr. Bamberger added some interesting facts as to 
the position the Jews occupy in the colleges in this 
city, especially in Columbia and the colleges of 
New York. He added that many of the French flat 
buildings belong to Jews, the ''Albany " to Mr. Lewis 
May, the "Newport" to Mr. Ferdinand Mayer, and a 
new building now being erected to Mr. King. He said 
that it was the real-estate speculations of the Jews at 
Long Branch, and especially the liberality of the Selig- 
man's, which had made that place instead of marring it. 
He said, that as the Catholics and Protestants have a 
Baxter Street and Sixth Ward, so the Jews have a 
Chatham Street and an Avenue A ; but if there is any 



16 



preponderance of respectability on either side, it is in 
favor of the Jews. 

The " K. Y. World may have obtained a lar^e in- 
crease to its circulation and advertising patronage from 
the above-mentioned moneyed Shylocks of New York 
City, but every artifice, unsupported by the dictates of 
truth, only redound to the disgrace on the object pre- 
ferred, by reason of the reflex occasioned by the proofs 
liable to be brought into opposition, whereby the pre- 
ferred flattery becomes the target of public criticism. 
The " N. Y. World" fails to enunciate the class of iu- 
dustry and the illegitimate activity with which they 
accumulated that wealth, which has prompted its read- 
S iness to single out those, the most likely to remunerate 
the adulation it presumes they deserve. It is undigni- 
fied, it is degrading to commit to print any attempt to 
contradict the universally-acknowledged fact, that the 
practice of every low, mean, cunning and want of ve- 
racity "preponderates in favor of the Jew." It is 
such conduct alone which has reduced public journalism 
to the present low ebb in public opinion. As Una go- 
londrina no hace verano. Neither does, supposing there 
are forty thousand, of the eighty thousand of Jews, 
honest in New York City, give them the preponderance 
of respectability alluded to. Nor is it indisputable 
that " the Secretary of the Board of Delegates 
and a prominent member of Jewish society " in New 
York, is in any manner more truthful respecting the 
real merits of the New York Shylocks, than Mr. Wolff's 
panegyric here. The following article, "The Daily 
Newspapers," as will be perceived by its date, appeared 
conjointly with the concluding article on " Education 
and Instruction.'' It is to be sincerely regretted 
that vice and social depravity have become so preva- 
lent that every means possible to be conjectured by the 
corrupt and guiltily inclined are brought into requisition, 
not only to harass and impoverish, but likewise to 
limit the freedom of the Press, whereby scoundrels may 



17 



be enabled to escape unblushingly and fearlessly the 
just retribution of public exposure. What paper in the 
United States has contributed so much to unearth 
public corruption, and endeavor to bring the perpetra- 
tors to shame, as the "San Francisco Chronicle ;" nor 
can there be any doubt that the bold stand it has taken 
has tendered inimitably to deter public officials the 
franchise, which heretofore they considered a privileged 
right, to plunder our government to any and every ex- 
tent. Did every Daily Newspaper make it a duty, as 
becomes them to act in unison to expose vice in every 
shape, in place of displaying inveterate hate and jeal- 
ousy, our public and social morals would undoubtedly 
improve, instead of becoming each decade a greater 
blot to our ancestral character. 

To the Editor of the American Union : — ■ 

Sir: The following letter, addressed to the subscri- 
ber, explains itself. Albeit an unpleasant task, I 
consider myself in duty bound to comply, lest I might 
be considered scrupulous, timorous, or incapable. 

Veritas. 

San Francisco, Nov. 15, 1876. 
Veritas: Dear Sir — The truthful manner in which you have 
handled every subject that has appeared in the American Union 
induces me and others to request of you to favor us with your views on 
the Daily Press of this city, for which we shall be very thankful. 

Many Subscribers. 

THE DAILY NEWSPAPERS. 
A more argumentative engagement possibly cannot 
offer itself to analyze, than the effect the moral or per- 
nicious tendencies the Daily Newspaper provokes. Its 
influence is stupendous. It undoubtedly exalts or de- 
preciates the moral practice of men towards each other, 
likewise the intellectual feeling, the sentiment and 
perception of passing and future events. It possesses 
greater advantages over all other printed matter in dic- 
tating the style of expression and moral result, than 



2 



18 



any other class of reading, be it arts, science, belles- 
lettres, or romance, neither of which can dictate its 
particular style, for the reason that they are.not sufficient 
time, nor so constantly in the hands of the reader, and 
treat but on one subject, unless such subject is intended 
to be studied for some particular purpose — Verbigracia: 
Military Tactics for the soldier, Chemistry for the al- 
chemist, etc. — whereas the newspaper, being read daily, 
inspires its tone and expression. The general fury, to 
appropriate the whole contents of the daily paper en- 
grosses much valuable time, and as it is now vouch- 
safed to be as great a necessity to the community as 
the mariner's compass is to the navigator, a guide, by 
which the least deviation from a true course, consigns 
the public, as the vessel, to destruction. The liberty of 
the press is a gem that must forever be sustained by 
every country at all hazards, where it is the intention 
of the government to treat its subject otherwise than 
as serfs ; but there is an infinite difference betwen 
liberty and libertinage. To define liberty would be to 
draw a circle, within which would be constituted law, 
information, good example and refinement ; beyond 
the circle, libertinage, unlawfulness and every sort of 
pernicious and demoralizing influence. By liberty of 
the press is meant the insertion of all valid news of 
every sort, a truthful criticism on all matters of state and 
public affairs; all official returns of whatever nature, 
when presented by responsible persons ; in fact, every- 
thing that may dignify its proprietors, and advance the 
character of its standing in the community, and con- 
tribute to the improvement and advance the morality 
of its readers. To follow any other course stigmatizes 
its proprietors and editors with deserved reproach, and 
as may be reasonably expected, the disrespect of all 
persons morally inclined. 

There are imperfections, irregularities, improprieties 
and innovations practiced in our dailies, contrary to 
the regime of a well constituted and truly respectable 



19 



paper. It is an imperfection in a newspaper to eulo- 
gize the moral character of the dead because he held 
a high public office; the greatest scrutiny and reserve 
should be observed. Boss Tweed, without doubt, will 
be puffed sky-high as a model ot purity when he dies. 

It is an irregularity, it is sycophantic and sickening 
to publish the names of persons because they wish to 
see their names in priut, who attended some private 
party. It is highly improper, Li is low in the extreme, 
it is absurd, it is disgraceful, for the reason that it is a 
very bad example when the proprietors of influential 
dailies, as they style themselves, debase their position 
with daily abuse of each other. It is to be supposed 
that when a person fills a position that entitles him to 
be considered a gentleman, he should act as such. It 
is likewise an impropriety, because it is inconsistent, 
to extol a lady's beauty, and her dress as costly in the 
extreme, inciting a pernicious competition in others of 
her sex, who possibly can ill afford it, and in another 
column exhorting a more economical mode of living. 

CD O 

Consistency they say's a jewel ; its truth I plainly see, 
But a gentleman without manners, is an anomaly. 

It is an innovation to repeat the same subject in a 
well-organized daily, unless it is classed among the 
advertisements. A good song, an excellent dinner, 
and good advice will bear repetition, but clippings 
never. 

In treating of the errors of our dailies, too much 
opprobrium cannot be expressed respecting their com- 
petition to excel in their powers of sensational capacity 
in every case of suicide, murder, homicide, burglary 
and petty theft. There appears to be a conglomerated 
unity of desire and determination to enhance their 
frequency by narrating with the utmost pertinacity the 
most minute details of acts, which there can be little 
doubt have become more frequent by the preparation 
caused by repeated handling. It is a demoralizing 
practice which should be abolished, for it is irrefragible, 



20 



that frequent contact obdurates and renders callous and 
insensible the most obnoxious acts of which human 
nature can be guilty ; and as there is no more lack of 
human sensibility and refinement among the members 
of the Press than is demonstrated by those most 
worthy brutologists, who have united in league to sup- 
press cruelty to the brute creation, there is no just 
reason why a definite line of conduct should not be 
drawn to mitigate an evil equally horrifying, and of 
much greater importance, if possible, that would purge 
the columns of the press from aiding to propagate the 
infraction of the Sixth Commandment, as in the least 
sense of the word, every succeeding harrowing detail 
of suicide and murder makes it accessory to any pre- 
meditated act in embryo, more especially that such de- 
tail is concocted only to harmonize with those weak- 
minded and depraved of both sexes, who glut a debased 
appetite to feed on all abominations, and utterly re- 
gardless of the feelings of those who abominate and 
sicken at the narrative, and the proprietor's filthy greed 
for lucre. It is the duty of every honorable journalist 
to be ruled by a strict adherence to endeavor, by every 
word that appears in his paper, to publish only such 
matter as will defy the reproach of the upright and 
incorrupt class of society, and not pander to the insati- 
able appetite of the weak and debased, however they 
may be in the majority. Then, and not till then, shall 
we, as a nation, be enabled to attest the truth that vice 
is on the wane and decline, and honor, truth and har- 
mony are in the ascendancy. As the press of our 
country is more the ruling spirit that leads and directs 
our actions than religion itself, it is a matter of the 
most vital importance that its contents should lead to 
actions worthy of imitation, and not to demoralization 
and discord. 

Nov. 25, 1876. Veritas. 



21 



Books, like newspapers, are issued for the improve- 
ment and entertainment of the public, and lecturers 
invariably exact an admission-fee for the same purpose. 
As frequently the latter is not the case, I have deter- 
mined to examine by rational disputation, notwith- 
standing an apparent approval was acceded on the oc- 
casion to which I am about to refer : the Hon. Simon 
Wolff's lecture on the Jew, delivered in this city, Oct. 
1, 1877. That the object of aid to a deserving institu- 
tion, and to the very benevolent disposition displayed 
by munificent donations presented by the honorable 
gentlemen whenever solicited, no person more duly 
acknowledges than I do, and it is only with a desire 
to precipitate the abolition of evils that exist, which 
have hitherto entailed ignominy and reproach on a 
gentle, industrious and benevolent people, induces me 
to agitate a permanent reform. If Mr. Wolff is right 
when he asserted, u The American people are not ac- 
quainted with the characteristics of the Jew," it is not 
unreasonable nor irrational that an attempt should be 
made to enlighten them on the subject. Yet what the 
American people do not know of their alien popula- 
tion, the originals themselves most assuredly cannot 
instruct them. If they do not manifest their knowl- 
edge, it is because they await the necessary opportu- 
nity — such as happened on a Fourth of July celebration, 
twelve or thirteen years ago, when an Italian associa- 
tion refused to fall into their appointed place in the 
line. Again, on a certain occasion, when the "Grant 
Invincibles paraded the streets in procession; and 
more recently, the public assertion made by a State 
Senator, when speaking of the qualifications of the 
French people as naturalized citizens, which occasioned 
a comparison to be made between them and the Ger- 
mans, as follows : 



22 



APPLY THE TEST OF TRUTH. 

" The truth may be blamed, 
Though it never can be shamed." 

When Senator R addressed the French Demo- 
crats, on the 26th ult., at Pacific Hall, he endeavored 
to flatter his constituents by asserting that "French- 
men are more entitled to naturalization than any other 
nation," which assertion will not stand the test, as shall 
be proved by a simple comparison between them and 
the Germans. 

Mr. R cannot but admit that there are no for- 
eigners in this country more clannish than the French, 
to wit: They eat no other than French bread. Show 
me one who drinks our wines. They drink no water 
but in their wine, coffee or bouillon. Every person 
who knows the French people is aware that they only 
drink water as a substitute for an emetic. They cred- 
ulously believe there is no place equal to la belle France 
— no language comparable with the French language — 
no soldiers equal to the French. As a mass they des- 
pise our institutions and language, which is proven by 
the one in a hundred who acquires it. 

It may in truth be said that the Chinese come here 
to realize a trivial fortune to return to China. May 
not the same be said of nine-tenths of the French who 
come here ? Many remember when fully one-third of 
the population of this city were French. Where are 
they now ? They have returned to France with their 
gains. The few who are here are either expatriates, 
or living here with a sole longing desire and intent to 
return when circumstances permit. 

Did General Lafayette come here exclusively to aid 
the American people ? Did he not come here as a 
military adventurer? knowing that his military educa- 
tion might probably consign him to a position in a 
newly organized body, fighting for the glorious liberty 
we now enjoy, at the same time wreak revenge on his 
country's enemy by assisting a party in conflict with a 



23 

nation at war with France. Did he terminate his ex- 
istence here ? Do the French patronize our restau- 
rants? Do you find them in our American boarding- 
houses, at our balls, excursions, theatres (foreign opera 
excepted), etc.? No. Why not? Because they do 
not generally amalgamate with us. not even sufficiently 
to acquire our language. There are not to-day, ex- 
clusive of the merchants and better-educated French- 
men, in this city, one third who can make themselves 
sufficiently understood in our language to enable them 
to acquit themselves as jurymen. Have the women 
the character of being the most chaste ? The per- 
centage of Frenchmen married to American ladies is so 
insignificantly small that it is next to nothing. As 
voters the number does not compare in ratio with other 
nationalities. Much has been written of French polite- 
ness; fawning flattery would more truly demonstrate 
their civility, which if in trading does not succeed in 
accomplishing the desired effect, a more brusque people 
it would be difficult to find. Respecting the Germans it 
is totally the reverse. In a few months after their arrival 
here, they become acquainted with our language. Their 
names are on the Great Register as soon as possibly 
admissable. They habituate themselves in every man- 
ner to our customs and mode of living. They are our 
greatest patronizers of every class of festivity and 
amusement. They think there is no place on earth to 
be compared with the United States. They go or send 
for their relatives and friends. They have introduced 
more educational, mechanical, ornamental, scientific, 
and industrial genius than any other two nationalities 
combined. They are as large real-estate owners as 
ourselves. As defenders of the nation they outnumber 
almost all the foreigners in the country. They are 
related by marriage to the most influential Americans, 
male and female. In fact, if they do not to day, they 
will ere long be enabled, by concentration, to carry the 
casting vote of this country at the polls. Such is an 



24 



elucidated fact that Frenchman are not more entitled 
to naturalization than other foreign subjects, which 
may be further exemplified by the fact that the very 
party our worthy Senator addressed are those who 
supported, by their subscriptions, the second daily 
newspaper printed in this city, L'Echo du Pacifique,. 
which succumbed to mob-violence occasioned by its 
vituperous language against the Federal Government 
during the war, nor was it the only one. Thereby 
hangs a tale. If a nation, whose mobility of govern- 
ment every second decade, for centuries past, is a 
criterion' to judge by, its prospects for a protracted 
peace are but illusory, and the stability of its govern- 
ment hangs but on a slender thread. 

Senator R is not requested to retract his asser- 
tion, but he must necessarily admit that there are true 
Republican Frenchmen here, such as unsuccessful \j 
patronized the defunct Phare, L' Union, L' Independant, 
papers which always eulogized our institutions and op- 
posed the party, which has ever proved itself the bane 
and cause of every revolution, and has ultimately en- 
tailed the discredit on them of being the most fickle, 
vain, changing people in Europe, notwithstanding 
their very many estimable qualifications. 

As a man may be known by the company he keeps, 
equally may the people of a nation be judged by ex- 
amining the stability or pusilanimity of its govern- 
ment. If despotic, ignorance will be the result. If 
liberal, intelligence will accrue — the harbinger of pro- 
gress, activity, and wealth. It may be urged that the 
French are Republicans because they now pretend to 
enjoy that government at present in France; it is no 
criterion; there is an infinite difference between a 
nation becoming this or that, when the object is more 
to destroy an old dynasty that has been unsuccessful 
in accomplishing a victorious ambition, than when the 
change is effected by the moral conviction that the 
people are prepared for a radical change. It is very 



25 



dissimilar to the removal of unsuccessful commanding 
officers, who are superseded by others holding the same 
rank, educated in the same school under the same 
tactics, but by unforeseen change of circumstances, 
aided by their personal improved experience and 
quicker perception, make some strategic movement, 
or improve the opportunity when it occurs, have caused 
infinite heroes. If it is true that history repeats itself, 
the fate and peace of France is but problematical. 
Nov. 3, 1876. Veritas. 



" Exult not thyself, lest thou be abased." 

Had Mr. Wolff, in his lecture, admonished his tribe, 
against the evils which have created the animadversion 
of the whole world, to the extent that they are a bye- 
word before men, in place of fulsome boast, heedless 
of instigating remarks likely to accrue, he would have 
complied more with the above words of the Psalmist. 

The truest remark the honorable gentleman made 
was. that the •• Jew has rot changed — the Shy lock 
disposition, as of yore, is -palpably evident in their 
method of dealing to this day. That eulogistic articles 
appear occasionally is not to be surprised at, and 
particularly in our country, where the sanctity of 
the word. I am sorry to say, is so unceremoniously 
trifled with, if the comments of abler pens than mine 
support the assertion. 

" We rob one another all round, and in every trade 
and business, and we are all so bent on making money 
that we have not time or inclination to protest against 
the most palpable frauds, and console ourselves when 
we discover that we have been imposed upon, by going 
forth and swindling somebody else." Another writer 
says . Ci The lust of wealth so overrides every other 
consideration that frauds in trade is the rule instead of 
the exception." Can any impartial person assert that 
the above reference to veritable facts have not aug- 



26 



• mented in proportion to the influx of the Jews into 
this country and every other, by their surreptitious 
example. Probably Mr. Wolff interprets " Our want 
of any knowledge of his tribe" is attributable to our 
not subscribing to the Jewish papers, or that Ameri- 
cans do not go to the Synagogue. The eulogistic 
manner in which the honorable gentleman was intro- 
duced to us, as a public officer of ten years' duration in 
Washington, as being a particular trait of recommend- 
ation, as a type of purity of dictation and action, augurs 
little for the influence he has inspired towards the pro- 
gress of virtue in that not very immaculate city. A 
decade of service without reproach decidedly evokes 
unlimited proof of consummate skill in evading the 
censorious apothegms, stigmatizing official conduct in 
Washington, which appear here in print daily ; unless 
we might infer that had not his benign influence been 
exercised, the depravity there, might have been, if 
possible, more extensively practiced. I readily ac- 
knowledge that their manners are less morose, and 
that their seclusiveness has greatly diminished — the 
consequent result of the advantages they derive from 
the display of an attempt to shake off antiquated super- 
stitions, with a desire to amalgamate with their supe- 
riors in the progressive liberty of reformed ideas, 
whereby eventually as they become enlightened to the 
conviction that the departure from the absurdities of a 
benighted age, they will no doubt divest themselves 
of those evils which have resulted in the ostracism 
they have hitherto been subjected to. The following 
is applicable to some of the absurdities of the modern 
Jew. It might have served when chaos prevailed, 
and it possibly was an expedient the Jewish Lawgiver 
introduced to aid him to subjugate the people to sub- 
mission. But whether it is consistent in " Promoting 
the world's prosperity and furthering civilization,'' I 
leave nrv readers to determine. 



27 



MOSES AND AAROIST. 

Our religious people have said a great deal about 
Moses and Aaron, but there is a little story that has 
never been in print, which is more likely to be true 
than anything else we have read or heard about them. 
Those notables of divine history, Moses and Aaron, 
were partners. Moses was running the business in the 
mountains, and Aaron attending to the finances in the 
valley. Moses, in one of his summer tours in the 
mountains, was out of luck. The congregations he 
preached to did not "come out" very well ; so Moses 
concluded to take a hand at poker. It was too close a 
game, so he tried his luck at faro without success, and 
the result was, he came clown in the valley broke. 
He called on his pard, Aaron, who had also made a 
failure, financially, in the preaching business, but had 
made a big deal in a corner on pork, having bought 
up all the hogs in the country. He had made a clean 
monopoly of the pork business, but as it was outside 
of the line of the firm business, he considered it was 
his own private speculation. Moses did not " see it " 
in that way, and demanded a share of the profits. 
Aaron could not " see it." Moses proposed a compro- 
mise, but it was no go, when Moses said : 

" Aaron, you and I have been partners a long time, 
and if } t ou don't divide, I will break you, sure.'' 

Aaron leaned back and said : 

" Moses, you can sail in as fast as you please ; you 
can't hurt me, and nary a hog will I give you." 

Moses at once commenced preaching to the people 
that all the diseases among them came from eating 
pork, and right there he made the Jews believe the 
devil was in the hogs. The people arose en masse, and 
drove the last one of Aaron's hogs into the sea and 
drowned them, which cleaned out Aaron entirely, and 
to this day many of the Jews believe the devil is in 
the hogs, and won't eat any pork. 



28 



Another query has circulated among the inquisitive 
j to know how it is that almost the entire " Three Balls " 
business is monopolized by the Jews, and that a great 
number of our wealthy Jew merchants made their first 
accumulations in it, cannot be responded to otherwise, 
than that few other people can be found sufficiently 
devoid of shame and honesty to be enabled to compete 
: with them in the rascally, base, mean, thieving practices 
they are such adepts in, and however it may be, that 
no honest labor in this country is imputed a disgrace, 
the shameless manner the Jews manipulate their pawn- 
shop business requires much more restringent laws 
than at present exist, and the penalties attending any 
infraction of them should be treble what they are, for 
' the reason that those persons are almost always the 
worst practiced on, who are the least able to sue for 
redress in a Court of Justice, by the want of means to 
prosecute, or reluctantly prefer to submit to their losses 
by villainous trickery, than to suffer by a loss of time, 
and an exposure of their poverty , and probably an un- 
successful attempt to obtain justice. The frequent 
publicity of their abominable artifices vindicate the 
truth of my assertion, and as it is an acknowledged 
fact that the receiver is worse than the thief, justifies 
me in reviewing Mr. Wolff's assertion, that " the Jews 
have reason to be a proud people, that they are build- 
ing up our cities, and exert no weak leverage in secur- 
ing the prosperity of the country, and that they have 
no wish save to be just, to be honored, and to be 
loved.'' 

First. " The Jews have reason to be a proud people.' ' 
Pride signifies insolence, unreasonable self-esteem, and 
rude treatment to others, on the one hand; dignity of 
manner, loftiness of air, generous elation of heart, on 
the other. To which of these the Jews deserve the 
preference, I leave it to my readers to decide. 

Second. " That they are building up our cities, and 
exert uo weak leverage in securing the prosperity of 



29 



the country. is apparent from the Three Balls men's 
ready acceptance of stolen property at one-tenth part 
of its value, thus facilitating, and in a great manner en- 
couraging the dishonestly inclined to impel an in- 
crease of taxation to defray the expense of providing 
for thieves, incubated by their reciprocity of action, 
and to build up new jails to beautify our cities, whereby 
the prosperity (ruin) of the country is most assuredly 
secured. 

Third. "And that they have no wish, save to be 
just, to be honored and to be loved,'' is verified by 
their sordid love of money, at the sacrifice of gratitude 
and honor of purpose, by the heavy purchases made by 
their Shylocks of Confederate bonds at two and one- 
half per centum, and the determined manner that nine- 
tenths of them have always supported the party which 
has worked, and are still working so assiduously and 
traitorously to obligate the payment of the Rebel 
Indemnity Bill, proving their utter lack of desire to be 
just to the Federal Government that has fostered and 
protected them, confirms the fact that they are unde- 
serving of being honored, and for which reason, in lieu 
of being loved, they deservingly merit universal 
hatred. And precisely as any infectious disease has 
been inoculated into the human system of this or any 
other country, which cannot be too deeply deplored, so 
may the accompanying evils attendant on the Jews' 
advent into this country be regarded in the same lis ht. 
And however great the evil attributed to the Chinese 
incubus, as demoralizing the status of the working- 
men, a similar comparison may with equal justice and 
truth be applicable to the Jews, respecting their gene- 
ral untruthfulness, and dishonest deportment in busi- 
ness transactions. And however Mr. Wolff and his tribe 
object to the comparison, " Mean as a Jew," he pricks 
and insolently arrogates himself as belonging to a tribe 
of wealth, but finds no objection to the universal epi- 
thet, " Rich as a Jew" — notwithstanding the demon- 



30 



strated facts that their, unjustifiable method of accumu- 
lating their wealth has propagated evils that all 
the abstruse logic, classical rhetoric, and perverse pre- 
varication is incapable of excusing them of having 
sinistrously perverted the social system of the commer- 
cial community of this country, whereby we have be- 
come almost as vitiated as themselves. Nor do I gain- 
say the truth, as a fact, that there are thousands in this 
country to-day, who are of Air. Hilton's opinion re- 
specting the moral worth of the Jews. 



PRET POUR MON PAYS. 

What a gloriously animating expression to him who 
has a country of which he delights to boast of in terms 
of pride and heartfelt satisfaction, That it maintains as 
its standard Justice and Truth, That he gratefully 
acknowledges it as his home, his friend and his pro- 
tector, and That he is ever ready to defend it against 
the scorn and reproach of its calumniators. Mr. Wolff 
merely said "That the Jew had found a Palestine 
here." His religion, its antiquity, and its virtues were 
magnified to the fullest extent of expression possible. 
His people in like manner were represented as " para- 
gons of the utmost perfection in virtue, w T ealth and 
scientific attainments. For Americans, alas ! Nought 
but reproach and bitterness of language assailed the 
most affectionate, forgiving and generous people on 
the face of the globe. Ease ingratitude ! I maintain 
that Mr. Wolff may be a very good Jew in idolatrous 
feasts and fasts, and yet be a very bad man. His re- 
ligion may be a very good one, but what has his re- 
ligion done for him or for the world, that any other 
religion might not have effected, or what no religion at 
all does for any good man, whose common sense con- 
vinces him that to think and act right promotes his 
own Bien Estar in society. Religion is but a belief, 
without any conviction that any one of the many is 



31 



truer than the other, for the reason that if such were 
the fact, all men would be of the same opinion. Each 
person's religion is the correct one, consequently every 
other person's must necessarily be wrong. One fact is 
certain : Religion has destroyed the confidence that all 
persons should entertain in each other. It has caused 
more strife, personal abuse and bitter hostile feeling 
than all other evils combined. It has been the cause 
of the perpetration of the most atrocious crimes, 
butcheries and protracted wars from time immemorial 
to the present day, than history relates, or imagination 
conceives. The present conflict in Europe might be 
adjusted by arbitration in a week, did not the great 
curse, difference of creed, usurp the practice of reason 
and right. Xor is the future horoscope of our country 
un tinged by the shadow of a cloud that may yet 
darken our brightest anticipations of the future. 



NEMO ME IMPUXE LACESSIT. 

The following article was written in answer to the 
Lecture already alluded to : 

Editor American Union. — Sir : Please to admit the 
following communication : Did the Hon. Simon Wolff, 
of Washington, in his Lecture on the 1st inst., in the 
Temple Emanu-El, imagine that his assertion, "It is a 
sad commentary on the United States that the Jew is 
so little known and appreciated," would be indisputedly 
acknowledged in silence ? If there is any country in 
existence worthy to boast that it was born inheriting 
the virtues, Truth and Fair-dealing, from its founders, 
it is the United States; and it admits of no controversy 
to assert that the true American is in action an ex- 
ample to the world, respecting a due acknowledgment 
of the virtues of its alien population ; nor is there a 
government so ready to make concessions to endeavor 
to prove that its great study is to "lean to mercy's 
side." However true it may be that " the Jew is found 



32 



actively pushing forward the world's prosperity," that 
good is annulled by the stupendous evil he has pro- 
mulgated throughout this country by the introduction 
of a vice execrably detrimental to the laws and best 
interests of commerce, that any " defamation and per- 
secution" he suffers is only the retributive result 
caused by effect. There are always two sides to a 
question. Had the honorable gentleman exercised his 
eloquence at " $1 admission" for the benefit of insti- 
gating his Tribe to abolish the causes of the "preju- 
dice " it so deservedly merits, the following criticism 
might possibly have been dispensed with : 

Facts are Stubborn Things. — Every people have 
their faults; so have all religions. The Religion most 
acceptable, in a common-sense view, should be the one 
whose precepts and teachings, whatever they may be, 
inculcate a law-abiding, honest and truthful action on 
the people. It is an undeniable fact that shame ex- 
terminates human prejudices. It ever a people become 
converts to a strange mode of worship, it will be by 
shaming them Out of their simplicity aud error, and 
there can be no more effective manner than by com- 
parison based on facts, to wit: Similarity of the Jew 
and the Chinaman. They each adhere to thy efficacy 
in promoting a virtuous life by fasts and feasts. They 
each burn allusive candles. They each bow with 
reverence to illusive images. They are each "fanatically 
superstitious, exempt of the first principles likely to 
constitute a healthy government. The Jew, character- 
istically, is untruthful. Fair dealing is foreign to his 
nature — covetously mean in the extreme, generous to 
his Tribe, wmich are true types of cowardice. Chinese 
veracity is an unknown qualification. Whether the 
Synagogue or the Joss-house has influenced the most 
consummate perfection of lying and nefarious dealing, 
is a question yet to be decided ; yet the Heathen has 
one redeeming quality unknown to the sons of Israel. 
He is not a coward, notwithstanding his proximity to 
the Jew in treachery and tricker}^. 



33 

The above remarks develop the truth of the asser- 
tion, that all religions infested with so much pretentious 
formula have only contributed to enhance vicious action, 
or, in other words, have demoralized what common 
sense, the child of education, otherwise might have 
effected. Science is fast emancipating old superstitious 
and fanatical ideas. Astronomy is developing a con- 
viction that supererogation is the evil of the present day. 
Travel, observation and common sense, the salt of 
social intercourse, is fast establishing a conviction that 
[Nature alone is God, and that Divinity is but an 
ephemeral bugbear, aided, incited, defended and pro- 
mulgated by those interested in gaining an easy liveli- 
hood by prolonging an illusory sceptre of awe, intro- 
duced when materialism was at a discount. Had the 
word, " .Nature been substituted in place of the word 
"God," when the Bible was first translated from tradi- 
tional writings, Judaism, all Christian denominations, 
Turks, Pagans and Infidels would this clay be most pro- 
bably in perfect harmony of opinion respecting the 
Godhead. Nature's laws must be abided by if the 
Divine laws are not. Every disobedience of her man- 
dates subjects every transgressor, rich or poor, humble 
or elevated, to immediate punishment, proportionately 
to the offense — much more executively and justly 
meted out than any civil or military law, that punishes 
the delinquent not altogether comrne ilfaut. Is it to be 
attributed to Divinity or Nature if a cold is imbibed by 
sitting in a draft, whereby a lung disease results, that 
terminates in a premature demise ? Has Divinity been 
the author of all the rebellions and wars from time im- 
memorial that have occasioned the premature death of 
countless millions, and which have entailed weeping 
and misery on countless generations? Was it not 
human frailty and ambition, exercised in a great meas- 
ure by the great curse of too many religions — too many 
Gods ? 

San Francisco, Oct. 3, 1877. Tit for Tat. 



3 



34 



[This article was received too late for our issue of 
Oct. 5. We will take pleasure in furnishing space in 
this journal to any argument its assertions may bring 
forth. Send us your communications. — Ed.] 

I have omitted a few allusive points in the above 
article, reserved for a similar work intended for future 
publication. 

The publication of the above prompted the bar- 
tender of an Israelitish whisky shop to assume the 
championship of his tribe and to comment on it in the 
following manner : 

San Francisco, Oct. 18, 18TT. 

Editor of the American Union — Sir : In your paper 
of the 12th instant you published a communication 
over the signature of " Tit for Tat," apologizing for not 
publishing it sooner. I read this communication, and 
think the apology should have been given your readers 
for its publication. " Tit for Tat " makes a wholesale 
and unjustifiable attack upon the Jews and the Chinese, 
and in classifying them he says : 

" If ever a people become converts to a strange 
worship, it will be by shaming them out of their error 
and simplicity, and there can be no more effective 
manner than by comparison based on facts — to wit, 
the similarity of the Jew and the Chinaman." 

And he further says that — 

" The Jew, characteristically, is untruthful. Fair 
dealing is foreign to his nature — covetously mean in 
the extreme, generous to his tribe, which are true 
types of cowardice." 

We would ask "Tit for Tat" what he means by 
" cowardice," for if we understand that term, his own 
communication stamps him as a coward of the worst 
kind; for the person who writes such anonymous com- 
munications shows himself wanting in both moral and 
physical courage necessary to father his own dirty 
offspring. If " Tit for Tat " wishes a discussion on 



35 



the subject matter of his article, let him come out like 
a man, and not hide himself behind the nom de plume 
of a coward. 

I should not have noticed this matter but for its 
appearance in a paper which has respectable preten- 
tions, and seemed to invite attention to this article. 
No person but a fool, an idiot or a lunatic can success- 
fully maintain the charges and assertions of " Tit for 
Tat " in this enlightened age. 

Will " Tit for Tat " give his real name or offer an 
apology for his conduct ? We want no hiding behind 
the scenes. Unless he does so, we must infer that he 
has exhausted his credit among our Jewish merchants, 
and has resolved to this cowardly device to pay off his 
just debts. Marquis Levy, 

115 Page Street. 

P. S.— Hebrew papers please copy. 

The Hebrew papers did not please to copy. Neither 
will they copy this Work, or they are much more inde- 
pendent papers than I give them credit to be. For they 
knew that " Truth is truth to the end of reckoning." 
It was not because the name of the writer was unknown. 
Nor has the writer the minutest reason to be ashamed 
of his name. Yet had the reflections of my Article 
been ten times more severe than they were, the galled 
Champion's last sentence in defence of his Tribe vividly 
portrays the vile, sordid revenge, which only a Jew of 
the true Shylock stamp, or some other ignoble speci- 
men of humanity would seek as redress. But he did 
not surmise that the coward was one whose very nature 
revolts at the idea of sacrificing character for greed, 
which he thus demonstrates : 

Perdition seize his soul, 

"Who would by a single word or action, 

So demean his own self-esteem, 

As pander to a low crowd, 

"Whose sycophantic wiles, 

Serve but to wheedle and extort, 

To their own greed. 



36 



lt He who would nobly live, 

" Wouldn't flatter Neptune for his trident, 

" Or Jove for his power to thunder, 

" His heart's his mouth ; 

" What his breast forges, 

" That his tongue must tell, 

" And being angry, doth forget that e'er 

>' He heard the name of death." 

The immortal Shakespeare says : "If a Jew wrong 
a Christian, what is his humility ? Revenge. If a 
Christian wrong a Jew. What should his suffiance be ? 
By Christian example, why revenge.'' But as the 
great delineator of human nature has not defined the 
action one Jew should apply to another Jew, I will 
assume the responsibility, presuming myself to be a 
truthful Jew : not to revenge, but to teach a Jew the 
duty he owes himself, his creed and his God, by mak- 
ing him ashamed of the odium his sordid meanness 
and untruthfulness have entailed on his race. 

Editor American Union. — Sir : Had the person in 
answer to my communication, by your invitation, 
demonstrated by facts any error of mine, in lieu of 
stamping himself to be of that class, who, in default ot 
a knowledge of the exposures likely to accrue, aud of 
further provoking explanations detrimental to the 
cause he so lamentably fails to defend ; or have other- 
wise than soiled the columns of your paper by an 
irascible and pot-house jargon of abuse, symbolic 
of a premeditated intention of a breach of the 
peace, I should in all probability have abstained 
from making further remarks ; but I don't feel 
disposed to be terrified into silence, consequently 
I will give the following lucid facts for his 
entertainment and contemplation : It is better that 
there should be one coward who dares to confront 
a lecturer, who for one hour and a half, not content 
alone, to arrogate facts, but in express terms to in- 
sult and misrepresent the country sheltering him by 
contumaciously derogating its greatest virtue. Very 



37 



possibly Mr. Wolff claims to be an American ; all 
naturalized citizens do ; but when the place of their 
nativity is brought on the tapis, then it is my country, 
many probably forced to leave it by dire necessity, or 
have arrived by the assistance of friends, whose liberal 
and kind treatment here furnished them the means. 
The foreign soldier livery tells the tale. Were I Gov- 
ernor, they would all be liveried in United States blue, 
or be disbanded ; but as I see no Hebrew livery, I refer 
the reason to the present champion of their cause, 
There are two ways of interpreting the meaning of a 
word ; it may be assumed as personal, or applied in a 
vague and general sense, which is verified daily in dis- 
cussing the characteristics of the different peoples now 
fighting in Europe, etc. The latter is the manner in 
which the word cowardice can only be interpreted by 
any person of common sense, in the article classed as 
unjustifiable, though not by half so unjustifiable as the 
tenor of the lecture, that has provoked this controversy. 
"The truth may be blamed, but it never can be 
shamed." As the word cowardice seems to be the 
principal bugbear, I shall endeavor to enlighten the 
Jews on its particular phases. The word cowardice 
implies habitual timidity, which is evinced by the 
Israelite's general aversion to following a sea-faring 
(perilous) life, and as a rule every laborious or danger- 
ous a vacation. The very fact that they have no terri- 
tory that they can claim among the nations of the earth, 
notwithstanding Mr. Wolff's boast of their superior 
talent and unbounded wealth, is conclusive evidence of 
the fact of their being devoid of the general stamina 
and characteristics of other people possessing less 
wealth, etc. I have often repeated the following his- 
toric lines with wonder why such should be the fact : 

" No more shall the children of Judah sing 
The lay of a happier time, 
Nor strike the harp with a golden string, 
'Neath the sun of an Eastern clime. 



38 



This was the lay of a Jewish maid, 

But not in her father's bowers ; 
So sweetly she sang as in silence she strayed 

O'er the ruins of Babylon's towers." 

It does not imply that every person who signs an 
article allegorically should be lacking in moral and 
physical courage, as is exemplified by the infinite com- 
munications submitted to the public press of this and 
every other city. The more vital points alluded to in 
my article have been summarily dismissed by asserting 
" that only a fool, an idiot or a lunatic can successfully 
maintain the charges and assertions in this enlightened 
age." It is in this enlightened age that we begin to 
know the errors which have heretofore pervaded the 
social system, and are to-day permeating the daily 
walks of life ; and it becomes every person to endeavor 
to illustrate any evil which may be conducive to an 
improvement and amelioration ; and thanks to the 
great boon of this great country that a free press has 
and will ever be the means whereby every human 
frailty may be reflected in its true light, publicly and 
broadcast. 

Considering I have trespassed too much on your 
columns for this issue, I shall conclude by requesting 
you to refer your correspondent to an article of mine 
in your paper, headed "Hosanna! Hosea! Emanu-El," 
dated October 27, 1876 ; likewise to one on "Lying " 
in last week's issue, by the same, and learn a lesson, 
which will doubtless assure him that I am not the 
demented fool and coward he surmises, nor will he be 
less interested in case he covets me further to epitomize 
facts not at all likely to enhance the characteristics of 
his Tribe. The only apology I desire to render is : 

"Lay on, Macduff, 
And damned be he who first cries hold, enough ! " 



Oct. 29, 1877. 



Tit for Tat. 



39 



QUIEN MUCHO ABRAZA POCO APRIETA. 

Such was the case with Mr. "Wolff. He desired to 
impress upon his audience that from the Jew alone 
has issued every feature worthy of imitation — con- 
ducive to happiness, and that all future success de- 
pends entirely on the Jew. As he alludes particularly 
to the obligations which Spain is indebted to the Jew, 
there is no good reason to deny that the Spaniards 
received the adage above alluded to from the Jew. 
I shall use his own words : u All the divine laws which 
protect society were first promulgated from the Jew." 
" That he attributed the ridicule and jeers at the Jews 
to the large German immigration to this country, 
many of whom were ignorant." " That the first 
Spanish nobleman who came to America was a Jewish 
caballero." If Mr^ "Wolff as fully comprehended 
practically the text of his lecture as is generally ex- 
pected of a lecturer, he would not have said the first 
Spanish nobleman who came to America was a caballero, 
for the reason that caballero interpreted is nobleman. 
In direct opposition to Mr. Wolff's argument respect- 
ing divine laws and the protection they afford the 
human race, is a question in dispute ; yet it cannot be 
gainsay ed, that there is on no part of the continent of 
Europe, where the detestable crime of subterfuge in 
trade is so prevalent as in those parts where Jews 
most congregate, and I will leave it to any impartial 
traveler who has likewise visited any annual fair, com- 
mencing from the mouth of the Volga northward, to 
describe the humiliating indignities the Jews (not 
Germans) so repeatedly suffer, by reason of their prac- 
ticed chicanery. Gratitude for the important favors 
they have received here should impel them to dispel 
all cause for public remark. Mr. Wolff asserts that 
" commerce and finance move the world, and where 
can one go or look, but what the Jew is found actively 
pushing forward the world's prosperity." "Almost 



40 



all of the last great loan of this country was taken by 
the Rothschilds and Seligmans — all Jews." By which 
Mr. Wolff would imply that if those gentleman, in- 
fluenced only by their naturally kind and generous 
disposition, with their hearts overflowing with grati- 
tude for favors received, devoid of every semblance of 
profit, had not come to the front, my poor, miserable, de- 
jected country would ere this have been numbered, 
like Palestine, among the irretrievably lost nations. 
Oh, no ! My five cents and millions of patriots, with 
their tens of thousands and millions, would have been 
forthcoming. Mr. "Wolff erred to sinning, when he 
publicly made the expression, " The last great loan of this 
country." Had a tithe part of one drop of true Amer- 
ican blood circulated in his veins, natural impulse 
would have dictated him to say, " The last loan of this 
great country " — so great that all the world is paying 
regal homage and respect to our Ex-President, and to- 
day I read that he has been furthermore honored by 
the Sultan of Turkey, and I, though among the least, 
whose voice is the least likely to be heard or heeded, feel 
proud to say that we are countrymen and fellow-citi- 
zens. Mr. Wolff* asserted that " the Rothschilds and 
Seligmans — all Jews." Does the Hon. gentleman know 
that the present Rothschilds, whom the whole world 
acknowledge as being the wealthiest family extant, 
have been among the first to shake off the chains of 
superstitious degradation, by not having adhered long 
since to the inhuman practice of Circumcision, which 
fact, though not generally known here, is no less the 
truth. In corroboration, we now hear of a member of 
that family proving to the world that they are no longer 
under the bondage of antiquated error, evinced by 
having intermarried into a family of a different creed. 

There are certain incontrovertible facts that all the 
logic, ancient or modern, cannot annul, let partizan 
opinion rage to its utmost as it may, and all endeavors 
to circumscribe its range to mitigate the error, must 



41 



utterly fail. For instance : Examine the Indians of 
any country. They are habitually honest among them- 
selves, yet are the reverse to strangers. I omit to par- 
ticularize here, lest I intrude on facts intended for an- 
other work. I shall vaguely remark that I have wit- 
nessed repeatedly aborigines, who could not speak one 
word of* the language of the country, become so en- 
raged that they refused to sell at any price, merely be- 
cause the purchaser desired to obtain a greater quantity 
than what was offered by the vender, and that in a 
country where the very reverse is the universal practice. 
This, and similar facts induce me to believe that the 
Jews in their tribulation and days of oppression, were 
urged by their severe extremities to use every device 
possible to provide for themselves, and to combine from 
motives of necessity, and that their exclusiveness 
emanated from purely circumstantial motives. A man 
who, with the purest intention of acting honestly, may 
be driven by want, to commit unlawful acts. A nation 
desirous of peace may, by some positive, and possibly 
imaginary cause, be induced to fly to arms to main- 
tain its honor or puissance. Having thus excused the 
ancestral deviation of the Jews from purity of action, 
I intend it only to mitigate the errors of the past; but 
it in no wise contributes to exonerate them from any 
continuance of the perversit}^ which has reaped its 
revenge on their first persecutors, by their contaminat- 
ing influence ; and much less on two nations, not only 
innocent of their primitive wrongs, more especially 
the United States, that have emancipated them from 
the bondage they so long endured. And until the 
entire Jew family divest themselves from the crime of 
treating strangers as the aborigines above alluded to, 
they will deserve and receive the just merits of their 
ingratitude. 

Having made an allusion to two nations, the United 
States and Great Britain, having acted alike, respect- 
ing the emancipation of the Jews, leads me to express 



42 



an opinion regarding the relative position of the two 
countries, whose intelligence, moral worth and indivi- 
dual valor stand unrivaled; and however each may 
claim a superiority in matters of minor importance, it 
is an irrefragible fact, that every natural and divine 
law imposes an obligation on each, to endeavor to 
weld a link that will bind them in everlasting peace 
and harmony. That will restrain them in their gusts of 
jealousy. Contract the recollections of past strife. Con- 
fine the whirlwinds of ignorant and designing men, and, 
That will secure them safe moorings till time develops 
them to be not cousins, but brothers in the family 
circle of nations. And no greater crime can be perpe- 
trated than that any individual of either nation, who 
would by any nefarious- scheme for self-interest or per- 
sonal grievance, interpose by sowing any seed of dis- 
cord, whereby their mutual interest or friendship may 
be weakened or dissevered, is a malignant and perfidious 
enemy to this country. Is it consistent ? Is it natural ? 
Is it to the political and social interest of this country 
and to us individually, whose harmony at all public 
and private assemblies open with the soul-inspiring 
music of the " Star Spangled Banner," or other na- 
tional air, and without exception conclude with 
" Home, Sweet Home," or " Auld Lang Syne " — songs 
t} 7 pical of the genial tastes of the two countries — 
should be so basely treacherous to outward manifest- 
ation of kindred feeling, to dare to entertain any radi- 
cal ill-will to a nation, from which, despite any former 
antagonistic feeling, would even attempt to impugn 
any one of the virtues of which we have every reason to 
boast with pride we have inherited from our ancestral 
tree. 

The descension and degradation of the British peo- 
ple from the high standard of moral principle in trade, 
for which they were an example to the world at large, 
may justly be attributed to the great influx of Jews, 
with their avaricious propensities ; and our compara- 



43 



lively young country, composed of a cosmopolitan 
population, consequently more likely to imbibe, and 
and less likely to inhibit, their fraudulent practices, 
have tended to reduce us to that state of degeneracy, 
which causes every one to be dubious of the honesty of 
his neighbor, and to blush with shame and sorrow at 
our deviation from the path of the moral principles of 
our departed ancestors, whose simple word was their 
bond, and one price their ruling passion. The passage 
of the "Jews Disabilities Bill'' was an Act applauded 
by every lover of freedom, and no greater act of in- 
gratitude has ever been committed, not even by savages, 
than by those Jews who have failed to emancipate 
themselves from those vile practices which have caused, 
and still cause them to be "the object of scorn and 
hatred" among nations. But words fail to express the 
credit due to those Jews who have gratefully endeav- 
ored to elevate themselves by purity of action to attain 
the level of civilization, whereby they may, with every 
justice, boast of their " Influence on the Progress of 
the World." 

There are particular features in the character of the 
Jew that Mr. Wolff designed to stimulate his audience 
to believe they possessed in a superlative degree — " as 
an example to the whole world;" he referred to their 
virtues, "Benevolence and Affection." Benevolence, 
in the strict meaning of the word, implies a disposition 
to do good, which, as far as my weak perception per- 
mits me to construe it, involves a satisfaction in demon- 
strating sympathy; and a distribution of alms and 
kind attentions to the sick and indigent, irrespective of 
nationality, creed or color. Yet there are two classes 
of benevolence or disposition to do good. One natural, 
and the other acquired by civilization. The Hon. 
gentleman would infer that the Jews possess their 
benevolence from inheritance, acquired by the precepts 
of Moses, from which he would wish us to believe has 
"sprung every good." I simply ask then, from what 



44 



source has all the good sprang where his precepts are 
yet to this day a dead letter. Or do they naturally 
possess it, as the savages, who lavish it only on their 
own kindred, which the Jew's general action justifies 
me to say, is the case. Their affection, as I shall pro- 
ceed to prove, is tantamount to that the tiger displays 
in the jungle, or the domestic hen with her brood. The 
most accurate manner to obtain the truth, is by compar- 
ison, which I shall apply by the following examples, to 
prove the fact : 

First. That Jewish benevolence is little better than 
Jewish selfishness. Witness the number of Jews who 
attend the synagogue on the Sabbath. I have fre- 
quently counted as few as sixteen male adults on dif- 
ferent occasions, which proves, notwithstanding I have 
seen preferred seats sold at a premium as high as fif- 
teen hundred dollars, that their benevolence does not 
extend even to the margin of duty, aud the respect 
they owe to either their God or their rabbies, 
nor to set the obligatory good example to their 
children, which Mr. Wolff so ardently dwelled upon. 
And " That their disposition to do good " consists in 
their " indomitable courage in pursuit of wealth and 
knowledge " is displayed by their strict attendance in 
their stores on the Sabbath, thereby breaking the 
Fourth Commandment, and I have yet to learn of the 
first case transpiring where they have administered pri- 
vately or secretly their benevolence to relieve affliction 
or destitution, unless with some sinister view, except to 
their own Tribe, when they decidedly display to 
marked advantage that class of benevolence which I 
unhesitatingly term selfishness, which is exemplified 
daily on the Turk Street Railroad, leading to Jew 
Town, when a female enters a loaded car. The urban- 
ity and alacrity of action with which any Jew will prof- 
fer her his seat, provided her features indicate a Hebrew 
origin ; but what a marked difference is perceptible 
should it be to accomodate one, whose less prominent 



45 



features and florid complexion determine that she has 
not acquired her " state of civilization " from acknowl- 
edging Moses as the corner-stone of her salvation, nor 
as her mediator. Another instance, no less demon- 
strative of their defective self- abnegation and deter- 
mination to serve others, is manifested at any public 
entertainment, where an observer may judge, if they do 
not make it a point of duty to serve the best the table 
affords to appease the appetites and tastes of their own 
Tribe exclusively. Affection, implies passionate love. 
What a theme to raise a controversy in the mind of 
man ! Men love their books, dogs, etc., but they pas- 
sionately love their wives and children. In what 
country, or with what race can an exception be found ? 
In what instances do you find it exceptional ? Not 
from the cause of intermarriage, as Mr. Wolff asserts. 
^Tine-tenths of the divorces originate from the disposi- 
sition of one to be good, and the other the reverse. 
But where did you ever hear of two equally bad 
separating ; by which I mean, that both sexes having 
identically the same natural or acquired propensities. 
I leave my readers to draw the inference. A man 
may separate from his wife because she is untruthful, 
and his abhorrence of that vice creates a dissolution of 
confidence, which eventually dissolves his affection ; 
dissension fellows and a separation is the result. Another 
is a drunkard, and neglects his obligations, and she is 
unwilling to support him by her labor, or to suffer his 
abuse. 

Further detail is unnecessary, yet a thousand ex- 
amples might be quoted. Their being of a different 
religion has no effect whatever if they are both good 
or both bad. If by chance any vice predominates on 
either side, and all hope of a reformation is lost, pa- 
tience then ceases to be a virtue, and a separation is 
the natural consequence, and is perfectly justifiable ; 
nor can the hymenean chains of any religion prevent it. 
That there are too many hasty divorces cannot be de- 



46 



nied. Yet what natural or divine law can Mr. Wolff 
exhibit to deny that a divorce law is not as necessary 
an adjunct to true civilization as the marriage contract 
itself. Affection is the natural law of the savage ; it 
engenders a desire to possess exclusively the object of 
his affection. The civilized of every race and color 
do not differ one single jot; and there cannot be the 
shadow of a doubt, but that such a conviction existed 
in the minds of the first promulgators of the deed of 
marriage. Mr. Wolff, no doubt, will admit by the 
following explanation, that marriage, however generally 
entertained as a divine ordinance, is substantially only 
a rite, on those thereby united, to effect the legality of 
relationship and property, and thereby legitimating a 
right to inherit. Had any divine or natural law im- 
posed such obligation, a failure of issue would most 
certainly have been the result of non-compliance ; 
which is clearly tested by the same consequences ac- 
cruing from concubinage ; which definitely determines 
that Nature's decree alone is the All-powerful Kuler 
and Originator of everything above, below, and on the 
surface of this and all the celestial bodies, and which 
has placed a barrier to the growth and extinction of 
life of everything from which the air is excluded, the 
effect of gravitation, uay, everything that words in 
every language are capable of expressing, even to 
man's increase of his stock by the mule. I trust I 
have clearly proved that the Jews do not possess a 
greater share of natural affection than any other Sect. 
But now I will as clearly evince that, until they rise 
to the level of the civilization of the American People, 
their affection will be but such as I have already 
classed it. It is very plausible for any one to presume 
they possess a virtue, which, on scrutinous examination 
may discover they are totally devoid of. The affection 
most appreciable is such that is felt by the general 
public, high and low, rich and poor, the imprisoned 
and in hospital, the sailor and soldier, the mechanic 



47 



and the laborer ; and where in the wide world do you 
find a similar proof of real Affection existing, as what 
is demonstrated by the Constitution of this country ? If 
such is not as apparent as it is thoroughly felt throughout 
the land, it is because the countryis divided in opinion as 
to what is the most proper manner to perfect the sys- 
tem, whereby the alien may reap equal advantages and 
equal benefits, without discrimination. The study of 
the true American is to expurgate every dissatisfaction 
of the alien population by any semblance of preference. 
Their affection is of that type which has generated a 
love of country, far be}^ond the powers of my feeble 
pen to describe. Their Affection is not selfish ; it is 
the paramount promoter of an enthusiasm that calls 
into requisition the patriotism of all true citizens, and 
the capacity of her ablest literati, in defense and jus- 
tification of its excellence. Their true Affection, true 
Benevolence, and lofty nobleness of soul — germs of 
true Libert} 7 — exteud to so high a pitch of superiority 
over whatever is to be met with in any other country, 
whereby they contemn the action as the greatest proof 
of bigotry in all who would suspend their patronage 
or friendship, provoked merely by religious criticism 
or just reproof — being impressed with the conviction 
that no man is noble unless he merits the term, by such 
acts as prove that his nobleness of soul was the creation 
of his individual worth, his love of liberty of conscience 
and free speech. And until the alien population of 
this country imbibe a similar impression and convic- 
tion, they will ever merit to be classed as foreigners. 
And every religion whose tenets fail to realize a simi- 
lar result, will never be acceptable to the majority of 
true Americans. 

The few examples herein illustrated are proofs that 
the American people do know the characteristics of the Jews 
here, and could it serve any good purpose, an equally 
lucid portrayal could be made of their more practiced 
exclusiveness, and the lack ot true civilization, still 



48 



existing in every part of Europe; and no impartial 
traveler can deny that the Jews in the United States, 
after a single succession, are ouly pigmies in low cun- 
ning and untruth, in comparison with their counter- 
parts abroad ; which plainly elucidates how a superior 
civilization may be acquired by the example of those 
who have adopted a more modern theological theory 
as the basis of improvement, which has served to exalt 
in a sunreme manner the character of the Jews in this 
country. 

The Jews here, likewise the Y. World, would in 
all probability be very apt to claim that the allegations 
"attributed" are illusory and unfounded, and that 
whatever progress they have acquired, for which they 
are duly accredited, may be construed and interpreted 
into a denial that such errors now exist, and that they 
have been radically abolished. Such is not the case, 
and however reluctantly a few of the numerous cases 
which have transpired under the author's immediate 
observation, he is induced through pure delicacy to 
withhold the names of the parties ; not that he is 
awed by the consequences, but to prove that rectitude 
of conduct is the mainspring of his intentions. How 
many of the Y. World's proteges can truthfully as- 
sert that they never committed peccadillos similar to 
the following : The owner of a pett}^ store located in 
the vicinity of the opulent Jews of this city, a sort of 
Chatham Street or Avenue A, being continually pest- 
ered with the rebating propensities of her customers, 
had painted outside " Only One Price Here," which 
inuendo so affronted her Jew customers, that they 
deserted her, as rats do a sinking ship. Again — an 
affluent wholesale Shoe dealer was applied to for the 
swill of his house by a poor old man upwards of sixty 
years of age, for his chickens, and although he had 
returned a pure silver initial spoon that he had found 
in the swill pail, and had previously occupied two 
half days in piling a wagon load of kindling wood, and 



49 



having otherwise frequently made himself useful clean- 
ing up the yard, gratis; the benevolent lady of the house 
requested to know how much the old man would give 
her for a quantity of refuse passover bread, three 
months after the feast. Again — one of the wealthiest 
of the Tribe — a large importer of China's produce, 
whose house and grounds occupy a fifty-vara lot, having 
occasion to be absent a few weeks at his country villa, 
left a written order at the office to stop his daily paper, 
which the carrier in lieu of doing, heaped it at the 
door. The absentee, on his return to the city, expostu- 
lated the legality of making a collection for payment ; 
but the generosity (?) alias weak-kneedness or want of 
dignity of the absentee prevailed, and the sum de- 
manded was paid. And however incredible, yet "'Tis 
true/' that at this same house, mansion, palace, if you 
please, where it would very naturally be supposed any 
and every just contract would be rigidly exacted, and 
likeswise as punctually performed, especially in so 
minor an affair, as the vendee's acceptance of two 
dozens of newly-laid eggs per week, C. 0. D., which 
after a whole week's credit for the eggs, and a second 
demand for payment becoming necessary, the joint 
contract, stipulation and treaty became abruptly ab- 
rogated, by the egg merchant deciding that he would 
correr el riesgo, to starve to death, on his American dig- 
nity, before he would run the risk of being similarly 
dealt with by such a specimen of " influential progress.'' 
It is a common saying, and possibly the oldest on re- 
cord. Its saline continuity to the family of Lot may 
probably have caused that family to issue it in con- 
nection with the acidity of Mrs. Lot's composition after 
her disobedience. Whether I have eaten a peck of 
salt with any particular person or not, I am not pre- 
pared to say ; but if living on salt beef and hard tack, 
and pork and beans, consecutively for many years, 
with but little intermission, engenders any consanguin- 
ity with the adage, " You must eat a peck of salt," etc., I 



4 



50 



am not sufficient alchymist to determine. Be that as 
it may. I forthwith reproduce a letter of mine to a 
gentleman with whom I supposed I was well acquainted, 
will justify that my actions accord with my admonitions. 

San Francisco, May 18, 1877. 

Mr. S . — Sir : I have deferred addressing 

sooner, lest you imagine I express myself in anger, 
and that it may not be interpreted that I have hitherto, 
or now, a desire to display any ill-feeling by reason 
of religious antipathy. Being both Jews, such cannot 
be alleged ; but I do, in the sternest terms I am capable 
of expressing myself, maintain that any person, Jew or 
Gentile, of whatever denomination, who asserts that he 
is not responsible for the conduct and acts of his chil- 
dren from the day of their birth until they arrive at 
the age whereby they are exempt by law, is unworthy 
of being a father. Were you to make the assertion, 
that you did to me, in any Court of J ustice, you would 
be told that the law of this country, or any other, 
makes you amenable for your children's acts. Your 
cats, dog3 and cattle, old and young, likewise. As 
parents receive the credit for their children's good be- 
haviour, they are the only ones to be censured if their 
manners indicate a want of proper instruction. Your 
children have merited my animadversion, or I should 
not say so, nor should I have expelled them from my 
premises; and emphatically I say, you only are to 
blame. I am sorry to say, yet I acknowledge it to be 
a truth. That nine-tenths of the Jews in this city are 
a disgrace to any community, their systemized low, 
mean and corrupt method of transacting business, and 
barefaced lying, are the cause of the odium entailed on 
our race to such a degree, that every Jew who has 
emancipated himself from traditional custom cannot 
but blush with shame to be so frequently obliged to 
listen to the taunts and slurs expressed for acts which 
three centuries ago prompted the great Shakespeare to 



51 



immortalize himself by writing bis " Merchant of 
Venice." Possibly I am a descendant of the Shy lock 
family, by reason of my revengeful disposition, as yon 
may term it; nevertheless, no act of revenge can 
emanate without provocation, which consequently 
proves that I am not the aggressor, nor do I intend to 
be, nor am I under the slightest apprehension of the 
consequences you or any other person, however mali- 
ciously inclined, may instigate against me, as I have 
sense enough to know that I am justified in carrying 
such revenge to the extreme the law allows me, which 
I will effectually do, in portraying publicly on every 
occasion the vile, low, mean, degenerate state of the 
modern Jew, from the noble maxims of the Great Law- 
Giver, which they pretend b*r fasts, feasts and other 
antiquated rites of Hebrew ethics to perpetuate and 
follow. As Helen was the cause of the Trojan war, 
whereby a dynasty became extinct; I can see no 
reason why I should not apply my pen to castigate the 
wrongs I have unprovokedly suffered so repeatedly ; 
and by so doing, at the same time teach evil-doers a 
lesson; and it is au ill will that blows nobody good. 
Trusting you will co-operate with me in making your 
friends acquainted with the contents of this, as I shall 
make it a point of duty to make it as public as I can, 
whereby public morals may reap a benefit, for which 
there is urgent necessity. 

Very respectfully, Your's, 

Alias Veritas. 



SPEEO MELIORA. 

The following was published with the hopes it might 
instigate a movement to abolish an unwarrantable in- 
fraction on humanity, at the same time incite some im- 
partial Lecturer to enlighten " the unappreciative Amer- 
ican people in their ignorance of legendary and circumscribed 
knowledge" (applied by Mr. Wolff.) 



52 



CKEDAT JUD^EUS APPELLA! 

CIRCUMCISION. 

It is to be hoped that the " Society for the Preven- 
tion of Cruelty to Children " will regard it as much 
a duty to arrest the first offence that presents itself 
when the act of circumcision next takes place in either 
of the synagogues in this city, as it has already done 
in many minor acts of cruelty. To wit : Circus and 
street begging children and at the Bench Show, when 
a number of canines were advertised to destroy the 
greatest pests that abound in this great city of the 
"Western Hemisphere ; at the same time deter one of 
the most shamefully barbarous and indecent public ex- 
hibitions in this enlightened age, which should peremptorily 
be denounced and abolished. There can be no more 
legitimate reason to prohibit any person from cutting off 
the tip of his children's noses, or his dog's ears and tail, 
and inviting a crowd to witness the act, than that the 
Jews should be permitted to commit the crime of may- 
hem by circumcision. If Moses and his "Progressive 
Tribe " have trifled on the world's credulity for thou- 
sands of years, it is not sufficient reason that such a 
disgusting and objectionable practice should be per- 
mitted with impunity "in this New Palestine," that 
the Honorable Simon Wolff, in his lecture on the 2nd 
Ultimo, thought proper to designate this country to 
be. Decency forbids it should become a Palestine. 

Let the United States enroll the Abolition of this 
most unnatural and unwarrantable act of the dark 
ages in the catalogue of her achievements, worthy of 
statesmen deserving the plaudits of true civilization. 
Furthermore, the numerous premature deaths occas- 
sioned by this inhuman and immoral act demands its 
immediate suppression, which may be enacted as 
unconstitutional and contrary to the statutes of this 
country, and a flagrant violation of the authorized 
rules of the above-mentioned society. 
Nov. 12, 187T. Veritas. 



53 



NUNQUAM SERA AD BONUS MORES VIA. 

It is to be hoped that when the next Lecturer, with 
"The Jew" as his text, stands on the rostrum, the 
highest encomiums he may present will prove inade- 
quate to the deserts the Jews will. merit by the per- 
fect change of system they will have adopted to the 
aggrandizement of their position in the community at 
large, as regards not only commercial pursuits, but 
that their contracted ideas will have found the expan- 
sion so absolutely necessary to obtain the combined 
qualifications, Truth, Honor and Valor. Finis coronat 
opus. 

The following Articles on Education and Instruction 
were inserted in the American Union one year previously 
to Mr. Wolff's advent here. The contents of which 
will illustrate the fact that whatever adverse criticisms 
may be usurped by parasites whose perversity of dis- 
position to acknowledge positive truth, accompanied 
by an interested partiality to the Jews, may be ex- 
tended ; the award of good intention inevitably must 
be the unanimous opinion of all impartial readers. 

EDUCATION" AND INSTRUCTION. 

I shall not only attempt to draw a comparison be- 
tween the two most essential branches of social civili- 
zation — -education and instruction — but I shall endeavor 
to elucidate the social benefits of each in its respective 
true light and value as they act upon us in our domes- 
tic and commercial course through life. 

By education — that is the scholastic improvement 
we receive. First, the superiority in competition with 
others who have not availed themselves of its benefits 
when the opportunity presented itself. Secondly, the 
independence we feel when brought in conflict with 
the vicissitudes of maintaining ourselves, and charged 
with the necessity of providing for a numerous family. 
Thirdly, the confidence and satisfaction we are bound 



54 



to feel of having proved ourselves grateful for the 
sacrifices our kind parents and teachers have manifested 
in procuring us this inestimable blessing. 

Instruction, though not generally supposed to be, is, 
notwithstanding, of as equally vital importance as a 
good education. Our morals, good or bad, are not 
attained in school, for though we are directed by our 
books, and told by our teachers to do right and to shun 
evil, the first and most important impressions are those 
we receive at home. We are certainly more the 
creatures of example, than we are of tuition, and as 
most certainly our example at school is good, our in- 
struction, that is, our truthfulness, honor, integrity and 
fidelity, emblems of a nation's worth, devolve on the 
duties of our parents, and tend to make us either orna- 
ments of society, or become outcasts — suspected, 
shunned and despised ; for what would it avail, if by 
our educational superiority, we gain incalculable 
wealth, if we lose our status in society by a deviation 
from the rectitude of social life, whereby we realize an 
ignominious end, and thus entail disgrace on our fam- 
ily ? For example, how easy it is to discern the dif- 
ferent behavior of those children whose parents make 
a practice of rigidly exacting politeness at home, from 
those whose parents neglect the first principles by 
which the foundation is laid which makes the gentle- 
man or the boor ; for as manners make the man, and 
the want of them the fellow, it is no less requisite in a 
poor man than in a rich one, to be esteemed for his 
cordiality, urbanity and self-respect. He who lacks 
self-respect is little likely to proffer it to others. 

Nov. 10, 1876. Veritas. 

(To be continued in our next.) 



EDUCATION AND INSTRUCTION. 

[Continued from our last.] 

The preceeding article in our last number, on Edu- 
cation and Instruction, was simply a prelude and con- 



55 



trast between these two offsprings of social civilization, 
which necessarily invoke and materially determine the 
sphere of future prominence through life. In acquir- 
ing superior advantages of the former, unaccompanied 
by a truly moral inculcation of the latter, too frequent- 
ly arms the possessor with a weapon which qualifies 
persons to commit aggressions that lead to ignominy, 
as is evinced by the many accomplished offenders now 
suffering the penalties of their crimes, who, had they 
in their youth been as diligently instructed by their 
parents at home to persistently avoid the consequences 
of untruth and dishonesty, as they were when at school 
to improve their educational duties, their career would 
undoubtedly have been to 'ennoble, instead of proving 
themselves to be a disgrace to their families and con- 
nections. 

It is indisputable to refute the greater necessity of 
inculcating fundamental moral principles in youth than 
the higher branches of education, verified by the fact 
that the true fundamental principles of a nation's great- 
ness, truth and honesty, are as fully developed and as 
generally diffused and practiced by the ignorant, hum- 
ble plebeian, as are generally enacted by those w T ho 
enjoy the advantages of the very highest attainments 
by education. The universal expression, " I will give 
my children a good education," appears to be tanta- 
mount to that they perform all the duties that devolve 
upon them by sending their children to school. If so, 
it necessarily follows that they either do not know their 
duty as parents, or that they are basely neglectful of 
protecting their own future reputation, which depends 
materially upon the actions of their children. A child's 
first principles of lying and stealing are not imbibed 
at school. They are vices acquired by the wilful 
neglect of those parents who lose the command of their 
children to keep them from evil company, occasioned 
by their having neglected to enforce the required 
respectful and implicit obedience that engenders love, 



56 

— love without obedience where it is due is but a mere 
convenience, which is proved by the wilful absence of 
children from the paternal roof, that has obligated the 
authorities here to enact a salutary law prohibiting 
youths to be in the streets after eight o'clock at night, 
which proves that no heed was given to the parents 7 
behests, which would have evaded that law, had such 
been the case. 

Truth and honesty, the hand-in-hand companions of 
valor and fidelity, are maxims instilled by the energetic 
and compulsory dictation and example of the parents. 
Dishonesty and untruth are the counterparts of cow- 
ardice and vice. Truth is acquired by practicing it ; 
nor is untruth or lying less so. A child hears its 
parents lying in jest — its imitative powers receive the 
impress, not thinking for a moment that the parent can 
do wrong ; it is there and then initiated and inoculated. 
And who does not know how difficult it is to obliterate 
first impressions and habits ? No greater proof, if any 
is required, than to see our school children cheering with 
ecstatic enthusiasm the elected candidate of their parents, 
without the least particular reason for doing so. It is 
not presumption to assert that principle or fundamental 
truth rigorously engendered and instilled in youth is 
rarely effaced ; nor is it arrogance to affirm that a 
genuine adhesion to truth is the basis from which 
every ornament in character develops itself. A sin- 
cerely truthful man can neither steal, cheat, commit 
fraud, or be treacherous or deceitful ; in a word, he is 
ever to be depended upon; and vice versa may be said 
of untruth ; it is indubitably and unquestionably the 
propagation of almost every evil. 

Nov. 17, 1876. Veritas. 

[To be continued in our next. J 



( 



57 



EDUCATION" AND INSTRUCTION. 

[Continued from our last.] 

In our last number great stress was brought to bear 
on the necessity of impelling by home example what 
cannot be coerced in school, nor is it to be expected 
that our teachers are responsible for what exclusively 
depends on the duty and action of our parents. Clean- 
liness, obedience and civility are necessary adjuncts, 
equal co-operators, and the executive means which ad- 
minister their proportionate influence in attaining the 
tout Men ou rien (all or nothing) of the individual what- 
ever may be his station in life, laborer or judge on the 
bench. They are qualifications that will always com- 
mand respect from those persons whose esteem is really 
worth acknowledging. They are qualifications which 
our teachers can only stimulate during the short inter- 
val of school hours, infractions of which in no instance 
have they ever been permitted to pass unheeded or 
with impunity. With pride may we say, without ex- 
aggeration, that the echo resounds from all nations, 
admiring and acknowledging our public school system 
to be the acme for perfecting the youth of our country 
not only in law, order, and obedience, but to the fullest 
letter of conceivable perfection, ever ready to execute 
them. It is with the deepest and most profound feel- 
ing of regret that equally beneficial results are not 
manifested from the pupils of our sectarian schools, 
notwithstanding thev call in the aid of sacerdotal in- 
fluence to obtain them. It is only to the parents that 
blame can be attached for any habits of uncleanliness, 
disobedience, and incivility. A mother slovenly in her 
household and domestic management may possibly be 
induced to make her children decent preparatory for 
school, for the very reason that she knows they will be 
admonished by the principal or teacher to be more par- 
ticular in the future, if a too relaxed attention should 
transpire or manifest itself, detrimental to the discipline 
necessary to be maintained ; therefore, if an habitual 



58 



tendency to confusion reigns at home, it is but natural 
to suppose that little better may be expected when the 
children attain their majority. There is a maxim— 
" A place for everything, and everything in its place." 
However often anything is used, it should always be 
replaced clean, to be ready when required, and easily 
found. 

If every child capable of performing any household 
duty should be allotted a certain duty to execute, when 
not preparing for class, such duty would necessarily be 
beneficial exercise, at the same time exempt them from 
the liability of getting into bad company in the streets. 
Habits of cleanliness are principally acquired at home. 

Obedience — the great benefactor, defender and confi- 
dence of a nation's honor. It is an anomaly to expect 
that a child who is not obedient to his parents in all 
things, can be obedient to his God. Parents who raise 
their children in disobedience to their commands at 
home, are wholly and solely responsible for their dis- 
obedience to the Ten Great Commandments of Moses 
and every act they commit against the civil laws of the 
land. 

Civility — Freedom from barbarity ; Rule of decency; 
partaking of the nature of a civilized state ; the Herald 
and Harbinger of first principles and Proclaimer of the 
antecedents of the parents. Digame con andas ti dire 
giden eres. " A man is known by the company he 
keeps," and " Birds of a feather will flock together." 
It is an undeniable fact that our instincts, that is, our 
desires and aversions, acting in the mind, control the 
power that determines the will to seek our affinity, or 
to shun the antipodes of our nature. 

What other men dislike is sure to please, 

Of all mankind these dear antipodes : 

Through pride, not malice, they run counter still, 

Civility in a gentleman — incivility is a ruffian's will. 

It is to society what the scent is to the rose ; it is the 
distinguishing feature that enhances the friendship of 



59 

nations ; but an uncivil answer has caused innumerable 
contests; aye! frequently threatened the peace of 
nations. If parents really acted in concert with the 
rigid prohibition of incivility at home, that is coerced 
in our public schools, which, on repetition after the 
necessary admonition, entails suspension or expulsion, 
there would decidedly be less insolence and intolerance 
of insulting behavior practiced out of school, as is 
verified by the viciousness of those boys in particular 
wmose parents exempt them from attending our public 
schools. Some parents are too apt to imagine their 
children paragons of perfection in manners and dis- 
position, when a reference made to their schoolmates, 
who are the inquisitorial judges of each other's imper- 
fections, they would be very apt to find them portrayed 
as mean, insolent and conceited beyond measure. 
Another hint to parents in general may not be out of 
place, respecting the manner they permit their chil- 
dren to spend the money they too lavishly bestow 
upon them, and yet complain when any change of 
text-book is proposed. Betting and gambling are 
already staple vices in which our country is fast ap- 
proaching to be the ne plus ultra of perfection. Chew- 
ing and smoking, indispensable acquisitions for in- 
creasing the revenues of the country, may not be im- 
proper for the pater familias, but their propagation 
assuredly should be prohibited to a greater extent in 
the rising generation, at least until they have arrived 
at an age discretionary of their evil results. Swearing 
is in no manner otherwise than a habit, low in the ex- 
treme. Its only palliation is, when anger, incensed by 
unprovoked insult, disarms the perpetrator of all com- 
mand of himself, but the shameless manner in which 
this degrading practice has become initiated and in- 
ducted into our social intercourse with each other, is to 
be deeply deplored, and every strenuous exertion should 
be used to check its abominable advancement. Our 
boys are in a great measure excusable for every evil, 



60 



we as parents and guardians generate and promote by 
example, and in nowise, manner or pretext can we in 
truth assert that it is not our duty to ourselves and to 
them, to show them a better example. 
Nov. 25, 1876. Veritas. 



OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 

It may be very well for a preacher who is paid a 
high salary to endeavor to entertain his congregation 
for an hour in diffusing his ideas on the above subject, 
which I shall laconically explain, and I trust will be far 
more easily understood in fewer words than he em- 
ployed sentences. 

There can be but one legitimate method practiced 
in truly American school teaching, and that is : it 
must be purely secular, supported by direct taxation 
for that purpose. If any one particular dogma is per- 
mitted, it is an innovation on the constitution of this 
great country, and is a just reason of offense to every 
other creed in existence. It is derogatory for any 
minister to disparage the tenets of his neighbor in the 
pulpit. Let the public press do its duty, and endeavor 
to shame all abuses from church doctrines and abomin- 
able fallacies, whicb eveutually will succumb and be- 
come obsolete by its powerful influence. With the aid 
of astronomy, science and a general compulsory educa- 
tion, man's common sense will eventually develop the 
truth, that to do right is his own truest interest, which 
requires no divine law to impel its execution. — What 
has ever transpired to convince common sense to the 
contrary, that the present generation is not as much at 
fault respecting the truth of the mysteries of religion, 
as we now suppose the absurdities of the heathen 
mythology to be ? Nor can it be denied that there is 
just cause to lament the predominance of a disposition 
to introduce imaginary miracles, equally absurd as any 
we endeavor to dispel, to wit : Infallibility, spiritual- 



61 



ism, mormonism, and others equally idolatrous, con- 
trary to reason, and grotesque. 

Nov. 19, 1877. Vfritas. 



The acknowledgement of my incapacity to indite an 
Article as worthy of perusal as the following, clipped 
from the " San Francisco Chronicle," Dec. 23, 1877, 
I trust will justify me to solicit the indulgence of my 
readers in reproducing it here : 

THE CAUSE OF PUBLIC CORRUPTION. 

Taken collectively, the people of the United States 
have many admirable qualities. In war they are brave, 
persevering and formidable ; in business affairs, liberal 
and enterprising; in social life, gay, generous, and 
lavish with their money ; intellectually, they are pro- 
gressive and enlightened. Made up from all nations, 
such a population naturally comes to regard prejudice, 
intolerance and oppression with decided aversion. And 
yet, with these and many other excellent qualities, as 
a nation we are getting a bad name abroad. We are 
considered the most mercenary people on the globe, 
and, what is still worse, we largely deserve such a 
reputation. Nowhere else is the worship of money so 
universally carried to an extreme as in this country. 
A frenzied desire for the speedy accumulation of wealth 
is found among all classes, and while a stimulus is thus 
given to commercial and industrial enterprises that is 
of great public benefit, the evils that are engendered 
are correspondingly great, and, unless soon remedied, 
forecast ominous changes in our national future. 

It is impossible to dispute the fact that our only 
generally recognized standard of respectability is the 
possession of wealth. In city or country a man's stand 
ing largely depends upon his means. His weight in 
social or local affairs is in almost exact proportion to 
the amount of money his check is good for. He is 



62 ~ 



rated from a financial standpoint almost exclusively. 
If he is rich he is worth cultivating. Intellectually or 
morally he may be what he pleases, but financially he 
must exhibit a faultless showing. The admission of 
all this is the reverse of flattering, but there is no evad- 
ing the truth of it. Honor, talent, artistic endow- 
ments, professional attainments, genuine manhood and 
purity of character are quite well appreciated, but they 
are minor matters. The grave question is, How much 
is a man worth ? 

To this unnatural state of public sentiment is to be 
largely attributed the prevailing corruption of the 
times. Our people are not avaricious in the strict 
sense of the word, they are, more properly, ambitious. 
They covet wealth, not for the mere sake of having it, 
but because of the luxury, state and social recognition 
it confers. No matter what a man's private worth or 
professional attainments may be, he is literally nobody 
if he is destitute of wealth. A few persons may know, 
appreciate and honor him, but society is ignorant of 
his existence. The only path to position our young 
men are taught is in the gathering of dollars. They 
must get rich or their lives are failures. Filled with 
energy and enthusiasm, they are not content to accu- 
mulate. They seek to do the work of a life-time 
within a few years. As they grow older, dissapoint- 
ments render them unscrupulous and desperate, their 
moral perceptions become blunted, and dishonorable 
expedients are finally resorted to. Public trusts are 
betrayed, or meanly turned to advantage, or private 
positions are made available for all manner of question- 
able practices. For the sake of money public officials 
prostitute the power and authority confided to them, 
forget their dignities, and descend to contemptible 
rascalities, that would be disgraceful in the most ob- 
scure personages. At this very time an infamous per- 
son occupies a seat in the United States Senate, which 
should be one of the most honorable and respected 



63 



parliamentary bodies in the world, who, if justice could 
be meted out to him, would be wearing the striped livery 
of a penitentiary. Neither his political associates nor 
opponents deny his guilt and depravity, and yet he is 
a United States Senator, and wields great power in an 
assembly that should be emblematic of dignity, honor 
and integrity. 

It is trite to say that State Legislatures and city 
governments throughout the country are more or less 
tainted with corruption ; that our vessels of war sink 
with their crews that rogues may grow rich ; that pri- 
vate business affairs suffer from the universal contagion. 
It is useless to cry out against either political party as 
the cause of it all. No matter which is in the ascend- 
ancy in any particular section, the result is the same. 
Everybody is determined to get rich, by fair means or 
foul, and what is more to be deplored, it is usually 
considered enough to know that a man is rich, without 
stopping to inquire how he came by his money. Soci- 
ety and the nation are absolutely poisoned by a mania 
for wealth and the respectability that wealth purchases. 

What can be the future of a free people when such 
a condition of affairs passes unchallenged ? There can 
be but one answer: A change must be brought about; 
men must be judged once more by the ancient stand- 
ards of true manhood — honesty, integrity and faithful 
public service, and the dollar criterion must be done 
away with. If this connot be brought about, the com- 
plete failure of republican institutions in this country 
will result in the near future. Liberty and corruption 
cannot thrive together. 



FIAT JUSTICIA, RUAT COELUM. 

I will add another Cause, still more palpable, of 
Public Corruption. 



64 



OH LAW ! WHERE IS THY JUSTICE. 

How fortunate it may be for that defaulting pension 
agent, who was tried and convicted in the United States 
Circuit Court and sentenced to pay $5,000 fine, or to 
undergo two years' imprisonment if not paid, to be now 
at large, is but another proof that in no part of the 
world is crime permitted to expurgate its penalties as 
it is in this country. It is no wonder that our jails are 
full, and that crime is raging rampant, when the de- 
fection issues from the Bench, whose important salary, 
if for no other more just reasons, should command 
efficiency to counteract every evasion of punishment on 
conviction. What on earth should deter anyone from 
acting the rascal, when cases such as this are transpiring 
daily in every State of the Union. Oh Crime ! Where 
is thy punishment? Oh law! Where is thy justice ? 
Feb. 24, 1877. Veritas. 



A CORRECTION. 

Editor of the American Union. — Sir : Permit me, 
through the columns of your paper, seeing that you 
have espoused the Workingmen's platform, to correct 
a few erroneous ideas, that many American-born citi- 
zens in the city, and probably outside of it, entertain : 
First, That the leaders of the Workingmen's party are 
foreigners. Second, That they have no right to pre- 
sume to take the steps they do. Third, That they are 
men who have been implicated in similar movements 
before they came to this country. Admitting the latter 
to be the fact, it in nowise abrogates their right to en- 
deavor to ameliorate the corrupt state of affairs here, 
which in reality exists in every department, where 
justice in defense of the laboring classes is brought in 
conflict. Always provided that their endeavors are 
conducted exempt from Ku-Kluxism, which implies 
threats and violence, producing terrorism and depres- 
sion in every branch of business. 



65 



It is only necessary to allude to what constitutes the 
rights of a foreign-born subject, the moment he becomes 
a citizen. If those American born in their apathy 
have permitted evils to extend to such a pitch that our 
republican form of government (liberty and justice) 
exists only in name, and that the foreign-born citizens 
who have experienced the yoke of injustice practiced, 
which induced them to emigrate, there can be no blame 
attached to their efforts by reason of their birth-place, 
and it is an act of contumacious arrogance to infer that 
any abnegation of right should exist after the compul- 
sory oath has been exacted from them to renounce 
their native country's protection. Our Consitution 
distinctly specifies equal rights to all citizens, minus the 
privilege of occupying the Presidential chair: every 
other freedom it is understood without exception. 
I remember well Is'ew York City when it contained 
less population than this city to day. I have wit- 
nessed and studied the changes that have taken place 
since Old Hickory was inaugurated, seventh President 
of this country, who would cry shame ! on us were he 
to witness the innovations in American principles 
practiced to-day. Having explained my views respect- 
ing a citizen's rights, I shall indulge in the right every 
American citizen enjoys — not by haranguing to a crowd 
subject to such embellishments asapartizan or adverse 
report represents, but in a lawful, outspoken manner, 
express my ideas of what will be the result of the 
present movement. If the AYorkingmen in their might 
throughout the country, and who can refute that thou- 
sands of American-born are in the party, will nominate 
only such men as will become subject to consider that 
a just retribution will await every one elected by them 
who fails to fulfill integrally the platform honestly, 
truly and patriotically ; there is little doubt that but a re- 
formation will be the result ; better no changes than 
such as I have witnessed in fifty years. Every one 
worse than its predecessor. 



5 



66 

Hopeless is the state of any country, when the law- 
abiding citizen cannot find the justice he seek* by law, 
in lieu of taking it in his own hands. What is a law- 
abiding citizen to do but to go to law to seek redress ? 
Can he find such when in competition against wealth ? 
What constitutes Republicanism ? It may be said 
everything that is contrary to Monarchy, and the equal- 
ity of every man before the law. Who says such is 
the case here, lies ! " an odious damn'd lie." Let us 
remember that France is a revolutionary country; 
practice has made it so ; revolutionary ideas are not 
less in vogue now than when I can first remember. 
Woe be to them who may see our next revolution ! 
Lucky will be those who will not live to see it. 
I shall ask three questions ; Are we a moral people ? 
Are we a truthful people ? Are we an honest people ? 
If cause and effect are indisputable, little less than a 
revolution will serve to emancipate the criminal pro- 
pensities progressing in every branch of business. 
Does your two-lb. roll of butter weigh two lbs ? Do 
your invoices agree with samples ? Has there been a 
legally elected candidate in the whole country these 
forty years past ? Has there been no adverse scratch- 
ing done for those who could neither read nor write to 
know if their desires were fulfilled ? Has no vote been 
bought for liquor or coin ? How many delinquencies 
daily ? and how many convicted and punished ? And 
why ? Because we have become callous to evil ; have 
become habituated to vice ; deride true virtue, sim- 
plicity and truth, and content ourselves with the per- 
verse idea, that prosperous crops, great exportations of 
produce and manufactures, immense returns from our 
mines, together with our increasing population, and 
extension of territory is the only means conducive to 
make us happy, content and united. Vain conclu- 
sion ! Aows verrons. 
Feb. 11, 1878. Veritas. 



67 



THE CHILDE HAROLD. 

"When on his own ship's deck he stood 

He no greater honor sought, 
Than to brave the winds and waves ; 

Fear was absent from his thought. 

He entertained no lack of duty, 

Nov mutterings from his crew, 
He treated them as his children, 

As in duty bound to do. 

Full weight and good their rations were, 
With an allowance of grog likewise. 

The rain and storms they heeded not, 
Nor thunder from the skies. 

There are many reminiscences of the past, which, 
when related, conduce to entertain, if they do not in- 
struct. I shall here relate an episode in the career of 
a captain, with whom I was particularly intimate when 
the -occurence transpired. He commanded a ship 
which had been built expressly to his order, which 
he named " Childe Harold." On the bulwark across 
the poop were elegantly painted the armorial escut- 
cheons of the Byron family, the name of the ship above, 
and beneath, the words, " Fears neither the winds nor 
waves," whioh terrified not a few from taking passage 
with him, unless he withdrew his defiance of the ele- 
ments. " Pecuniary interest will never occasion me to 
deviate from my conviction that I am right ; I never 
told a lie," he would say, "consequently I am honest ; 
I know my duty and will do it ; I entertain no fear." 
The ship made her first passage to Calcutta. The out- 
ward-bound trip was completed in seventy -two days, 
which extraordinary time secured her an extra valuable 
eargo, and she returned to the City of London in 
eighty- four days, crowded with passengers. The above 
is a specimen of decision of character, whicb I have 
endeavored to imitate, and I trust the decisive manner 
I have taken to use my influence in disseminating 
instruction for the benefit of those who may require it, 
may be acceptable. Veritas. 



68 



' A SUGGESTION. 

Editor American Union ; — I request the favor of you 
to permit me to make a suggestion through your 
columns to our representative in Congress of an effect- 
ive method to detect escaped prisoners, at the same 
time will deter them from so frequently making the 
attempt. Had those six escapes from Kern County 
and two from San Buenaventura jails lately, and three 
no later than the 27th inst, from San Quentin, been 
so treated, their identity and detection would have 
been certain. Let every convicted prisoner, by means 
of nitrate of silver or other inoffensive dye, be applied 
on the back of each hand, and on one-half of the fore- 
head. An application to be made weekly, or as soon 
as the last application is about to disappear. King 
Alfred suspended valuables on the highways, but no- 
body dared to touch them. If such a state of security 
cannot be attained at the present day, the least that 
should be done, is to endeavor to secure malefactors 
when sentenced. If our laws will not be abided by, 
let villains pay the penalty of their temerity. If such 
process is unconstitutional, the sooner an amendment 
is made the better. If certain requisitions at the period 
of our nation's birth did not urge the necessity, it is a 
duty Congress owes the country, to acid this or some 
other method to detect fugitives from justice; as it has 
made for other abuses introduced since the framing of 
the Constitution. Desperate cases require strong and 
effective remedies. The doctor amputates a limb to 
save life. A house is pulled down to check a conflagra- 
tion. A ship is scuttled to save her from being con- 
sumed by fire. Lord Ellenborough, in the year 1818, 
introduced a law in Britain, making it a capital crime 
if a person drew, or offered to draw a weapon with the 
intent to do bodily harm ; as it was then becoming a 
chronic vice ; the consequence was a few paid the pen- 
alty, but the abuse ceased; the same was practiced 



69 



against horse-stealing, when no man's horse was safe ; 
it likewise remedied the evil. The daily occurence of 
these two last crimes, which stain our nation's reputa- 
tion not a little, require immediate effective means to 
abolish. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth is 
Bible precept, and until we abolish the system of the 
sycophantic practice of imprisonment for crimes which 
capital punishment alone can check, we deserve and 
merit the consequences of our own puerile and disas- 
trous action. 
Oct. 30, 1877. 



A TRUE YARN. 

On the 17th of February, 1854, the barque 44 Zoroida," 

Captain R , hauled from Long Wharf, and made 

sail for Guaymas, in the Gulf of California, with sev- 
enty-five passengers aboard. After doubling Cape San 
Lucas, the ship's course was shaped for the head of the 
Gulf ; but by some mismanagement the vessel was 
suddenly brought up all standing with a sort of earth- 
quake shock, which staggered, if it did not terrify all 
hands. The captain, panic struck, ordered all the hal- 
liards fore and aft to be let go, but finding that the ship 
continued to strike harder and harder, dived below 
into the cabin, where he occupied his time on his mar- 
row bones in prayer. An old salt whose name was on 
the passenger list, awake to the situation, exhorted at- 
tention by saying, that if the passengers would abide 
by his directions and see his orders obeyed, as the 
captain had deserted his post, he would endeavor to 
save the ship, which he was confident he could do. 
The mate was mustered and told politely, that if he 
did not see the orders complied with by the crew, that 
he would be thrown overboard. Soundings were then 
taken for the direction of deep water ; sail was made 
on the ship, a spar and tackle were applied in such a 
manner that every time the ship lifted, by applying a 




70 



strain on the tackle, the ship forged off the bank, until 
she was free from it. The captain finding the ship 
afloat, found his way on deck, calling out, let go the 
anchor; which order was peremptorily negatived, as 
it endangered the safety of the ship, she being under 
a press of canvas at the time. . A sufficient depth of 
water being obtained to anchor in safely, the sails 
were clewed up, the ship was rounded to, aud the 
anchor let go. Tbe ship was then delivered to Captain 

R , who was very thankful that the ship had not 

bilged, and that things in general were no worse. To 
abstain giving further particulars of the sequel of the 
passage might induce my readers to indulge in dismal 
apprehensions lest a worse fate possibly had awaited 
its termination; to dispel which it is necessary to say, 
that having lauded a boat-load of passengers on the 
eastern coast of the Gulf, who had decided to prefer 
the fatigue and expense of reaching Guaymas by land, 
than again jeopardizing themselves with their shat- 
tered confidence in the capacity of the captain, to 
suffer a second discomfiture; the ship again made sail 
for her destined port, which she reached in safety. If 
the saying, " A friend in need,*' etc., was applicable to 
the essential services of the old Salt while afloat, it 
was equally applicable after the ship's arrival, as his 
proficiency in the Spanish language made him the lion 
among the retinue of the Government officials, who 
were very dubious and suspicious of the character of 
the vessel, and the intentions of the passengers. Walker, 
of filibuster fame, having arrived only a short time 
previous. And there is little doubt, had he been dis- 
posed to act otherwise than a peacemaker to adjust 
matters to suit the critical position of his fellow-pas- 
sengers, he might have raised a hornet's nest of mis- 
chief. In corroboration of the truth of the above I 
refer my readers to Mr. John Eicketson, a pioneer of 
this State, now residing in this city, who was a cabin 
passenger on board at the time. 

San Francisco, June 5, 1378. Veritas. 



71 



THE DIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES. 
The diversity of languages, as impressed in Genesis, 
Chapter 11, verse 7, is equivalent to deny that its 
source originated from the natural result of gemination, 
and that the modern languages, as they were written 
and spoken, say ten thousand years ago, would not be 
as foreign to the modern linguist as the Hebrew, Greek 
and Latin, of one hundred thousand years previous, 
would prove to be to the first translators of Homer, 
Virgil and Sallust, into English, or the truthful, eru- 
dite, the Hon. Simon Wolff, whose absolute benighted- 
ness and abject tear of depreciating the written text 
of the Bible, as being an exceptional Truth, would 
find the Quitua, the Hindostanee and the Gaelic 
languages have been so metamorphosed within the last 
centuries by the natural result above mentioned, as to 
be almost different languages. Facility of locomotion 
to scientists, and the increased number of adventurers 
from ths most enlighted countries, with their improved 
ideas, desirous to establish themselves abroad, have 
expedited a thousand-fold the extraordinary changes 
effected in the last century; immeasurably more than 
one thousand years did previous, when every absurdity 
possible raged rampant. Did our theologians and 
divines employ a more practical disposition in expound- 
ing ancient history, in place of endeavoring to mystify 
their readers and listeners with pretended truths, which 
ere long will become as obsolete as the acts of the 
Martyrs, greater advantages would inevitably be at- 
tained. Truth — the foundation of honor, valor and 
fidelity — nay, all that ennobles man, gives him confi- 
dence and secures him the same, the being devoid of 
which has been, is, and ever will be the degrading 
symbol of eternal shame and confusion. The time 
will yet arrive, when Nature in her glorious Majesty 
will be made the theme of deeper study, and aided by 
Science, it will be proven that she is not only the sole 
origin of our existence, but likewise, that our individ- 



72 



ual happiness, health and longevity of life depend on 
the reverence we pay to her dictates; and the greater 
our knowledge of her Supremacy in all things, will be 
acknowledged to be the brightest jewel in the vocabu- 
lary of our accomplishments. Language is similar to 
a song acquired by oral repetition. A child at six 
years of age, if not deprived of its hearing, has acquired 
a language by hearing its parents or guardians speak 
it. The impression or lasting proclivity is impressed 
by study, which preserves its retentiveness, without 
which, a language, unless practiced, in a few years, 
becomes as totally oblivious as if it had never been 
acquired. I have known many instances of young 
children to speak five different languages, merely by 
being addressed by members of the family speaking 
different languages ; and it is of vital importance that 
a similar practice should be universally adopted when 
the opportunity occurs, as no traveler can acquire a 
thorough knowledge of a people abroad, unless he is 
capable of conversing with the natives of the country, 
without the aid of an interpreter. No man who pos- 
sseses the means and has the desire to travel, whether 
for pleasure or on business, would stipulate to pay one 
thousand dollars for each language of the countries he 
intends to visit, if it were possible to purchase them oo 
demand. 



THE SABBATH. 

Having casually adverted to the propagation of 
marriage, I shall briefly, yet practically and materially, 
make a few pertinent remarks in relation to the ordi- 
nation and the respect paid to the Sabbath day. For 
example, the Jew celebrates a Sabbath on Saturday, 
June 1; the Roman Catholics and all Protestants from 
that faith on the following day, Sunday, June 2. All 
who yet adopt the Old Style, or adhere to the Greek 
Church, their first Sunday in the same month of June, 



73 



falls on our Sunday, notwithstanding they date their 
time twelve days later. Thus we find by the above, 
that the same Sabbath, viz. the first Sabbath in the 
month of June, would be solemnized on a Saturday, 
and on a Sunday. The Sabbaths of Pagan countries 
are too numerous to enumerate here — conclusive 
evidence that the Sabbath is materially the 
handy-work of man. Its Divinity or Sanctity is 
practically the manner in which it is respected. 
Where else in the world, with the exception 
of this great country and Great Britain — our co- 
existent supporter in every attempt to instigate im- 
provement, and establish laws to realize a moral state 
of true civilization— do you find any attempt even 
made to secure the Sabbath as a day of propitiation to 
the Great Eternal God, and a day of rest to the laborer, 
and to all work animals? All Roman and Greek 
Catholics appropriate a part of the Sabbath to devotion 
and a part to mirth and general excesses. The Jews 
not having a country to call their own, conclusively, 
no Government to enforce or restrict, they too frequently 
violate the sanctity of the Sunday here, and would 
with greater impunity, did not our advanced civiliza- 
tion and stern character forbid what they make a com- 
mon practice of in Europe; and there can be no just 
reason to oppose the advocacy of our Government to 
enforce, by Statute, a Law that would command the 
respect of the civilian, as it distinguishes for our 
Government offices and employees, and at the same 
time let derelict citizens know that true Republicanism 
signifies free admission of every person into this 
country, but abhors the introduction of superstition, 
bigotry, fanaticism, and every other class of pernicious 
vice, detrimental to our future peace and happiness. 
Did any /S^per-Natural power exist, that desired or 
exacted a particular day to be established, either 
weekly, monthly or annually, for the consecration of 
ritual purposes for mercies vouchsafed : Utter dark- 



74 



ness, privation of vision and hearing, loss of appetite 
and the physical use of every faculty except speech to 
enable, and thus compel the peoples of all nations to 
raise the only one remaining organ on that day in 
adoration and thanksgiving, would have been the re- 
sult. Is it a natural or a divine Jaw that affects the 
innocent infant, born deaf and dumb and blind ? Is 
not the omission of speech the natural consequence of its 
being deprived of the power of hearing ? Thus ren- 
dering it incapable hereafter of acquiring the knowl- 
edge of speech. If man is made in the image of His 
maker, his attributes are no less in proportion. What 
man who, occupies any exalted position in life, 
does not endeavor to enforce obedience to his will, 
when it is necessary. The captain of a ship exacts 
implicit obedience to his orders, strict cleanliness, and 
the most scrupulous civility. Our Courts no less com- 
mand respect to the Bench. The merchant equally 
expects due deference to his position, and innumerable 
examples might be introduced to support my argument. 
Did we pay an equally merited homage to Nature, 
whose All-Powerful Eod we feel on every occasion we 
violate her dictates, as we irreverently pay to an imag- 
inary Divine power (whose ordinances we transgress 
with impunity), ot which our knowledge is only illu- 
sory, all theological controversies and disputes would 
terminate, and general harmony would be the result. 
Cause and effect will, without doubt, ultimately estab- 
lish itself as the Truth, and operate to give a quietus 
to our supplications for assistance for present evils, and 
pardon for past errors from any Divine Power. This 
is what Goldsmith says : 

Thou Great First Cause, least understood, 

To all my sense confined ; 
To know but this, that Thou art good, 

And that myself am blind. 

That the curiosity of my readers may be assuaged 
respecting the tenets of my religion, I desire them to 



75 



understand that I justify my only right to live is by 
my readiness to preserve order ; to abide by the laws 
of my country ; to support the honor and dignity of the 
flag that protects me, and lastly, I anchor all hope of 
any future happiness on the firm conviction that, " to 
do to others as I would they should do unto me," will 
be the surest method of deserving it. Let the sternest 
and most criticising: theoloerists, bigoted enthusiasts 
aud devote religionists of whatever denomination ana- 
lyze and criticise to their utmost capability. They 
will in no manner or respect offend me or the princi- 
ples of my faith. I contemn and despise any religion 
whose precepts and forms will not bear every kind of 
investigation and examination regarding its forms and 
its practical result. Otherwise, I contend that it is abun- 
dant proof that absolute error exists. 



Of the multitudinous abuses which exist r devoid of 
the least shadow of occasion, otherwise than a laxity of 
duty on the part of those persons who, were they placed 
in the position as passengers would, in all probability 
be the formost to complain, urged me to publish the 
following : 

A RAILROAD ABUSE. 

We recommend the Superintendents of the Street 
Railroad Companies to admonish their conductors of the 
apathy they evince in endeavoring to accommodate 
the patrons of their roads to obtain seats when the 
complement of seats are partially occupied. It is as 
much a conductor's duty to study the interest of the 
shareholders by endeavoring to accommodate its patrons, 
whereby the management may achieve credit for such, 
as they manifest for themselves by the assiduous ap- 
plication they use to obtain their positions. However 
small a matter it may appear in the eyes of some people, 
that others make complaints, on ly. justifies the supposi- 
tion that they were never in a position otherwise than to 



76 



serve; and who, like many of the conductors on. the 
cars, obsequiously apply for positions, which, when 
conceded them, they study how little they can do. 
The employee who otherwise than studies to forward 
the interest of his employer as if it were his own, is 
only an eye-servant, of which there are an infinite num- 
ber in this city. The above allusions are by no means 
intended to repudiate the amount of labor the con- 
ductors perform, and the many hours they are on duty 
for the low pittance they receive, in proportion to the 
average compensation paid others for what is termed 
a day's work in this city; yet I do maintain that so 
long as any person thinks his position worth holding, 
it is his duty to perform it diligently, to the best in- 
terest of his employer, or otherwise he should resign it. 
Dec. 8, 1877. Veritas. 



The contents of the following letter forwarded by 
post speaks for itself . 

LA PATIENCE EST AMERE MAIS SON FRUIT 
EST DOUX. 

San Francisco, June 21, 1878. 
Mr. Gus. S. Sutro, 536 McAllister Street. 

Sir: — I regret in no mean degree that a man holding 
the position of Judge of the Polling transactions of the 
late Election, which you did, should have acted with 
so great a want of dignity and self-respect, as to make 
the remark you did to me, relative to a public official 
paper. Your assertion that the " Chronicle,' ' which I 
had taken there, as official evidence of the boundaries 
of the Precincts, "not being wanted there," displayed 
little less than a despicable, to say the least, malignity 
of feeling to its Publishers and Editors only, as the 
mere fraction of paper on which its title was printed 
could in no wise have offended, more than any scrap 
of waste paper. Thus I take this early opportunity, as 



77 



our business relations have .ceased, to state to you that, 
had it not been for the position I held, which I had 
sworn to serve faithfully, and the probability of creat- 
ing a dispute likely to disturb the proceedings of the 
board, then engaged on official duty, I should at that 
time have distinctly given you to understand that 
was a cowardly innuendo, you would no more dare to 
make in the office of that paper, in presence of its 
Editors and Proprietors, than you have a desire, possi- 
bly, to see this in print. When the contents of the 
"San Francisco Chronicle " prove otherwise than to be 
a credit to those persons connected with it, I am at 
liberty to discontinue my subscription, but I should 
not then be justified to offend others who differed 
from me, under any pretext whatever, more especially 
a perfect stranger, and he so situated that compul- 
sory silence was necessarily urgent; consequently, I 
trust you will not oblige me, in my own defence of the 
injury, your want of manners and misplaced arrogance 
led you to suppose you might inflict with impunity, 
to take such steps as will redound to your shame and 
discomfiture. 

I am, sir, 

Yours respectfully, 
No St. — 



CHI TACE CONFESSA. 

The popular consequence inferred for abstaining to 
give a reason for an alleged offense, when asked, is 
paramount to an acknowledgment of the fact, or im- 
presses an idea that the accused assumes a superiority 
of manhood; an unrecognized assumption in this 
country, which subjects the aggressor to the damning 
proofs of arrogance and imbecility, co-operative evils 
of self-defense in civil life; and thereby becomes liable 
to remarks likely to be constituted by the aggrieved 
party to vindicate his grievance. It is not the assumed 



78 

category that constitutes individual superiority, and 
unless such presumption is accompanied by dignity of 
action, such individual is exposed to become the target 
of scorn and reproach on scrutinous examination. 
What public act, what recognized public benefits have 
accrued from, or, what noble feats have ever been ex- 
ecuted by this scion ol Hebrew extraction, to presume 
he may affront with impunity a man, who confronts 
him in his audacity ? Unless it be because he follows 
the occupation which the recognized Redeemer and 
origin of a Truer Civilization than Judaism repudiated 
and chastised, by overthrowing their tables, and tell- 
ing the Jews that they were a set of thieves. Matthew, 
Chapter 21, verse 13. The last line of my letter might 
in all justice be imputed to boasting, unless I made an 
attempt to prove the assertion, which I shall as suc- 
cessfully succeed in doing, as the incident itself will 
be circulated throughout the length and breadth of 
this great country. " 4 The San Francisco Chronicle ' 
is not wanted here." The maliciously insulting and 
unprovoked remark itself, the time and place chosen, 
each demonstrates a cowardly, low, contemotible spirit 
in its utterance. If the " San Francisco Chronicle" 
were not a public Journal patronized by the elite, in- 
fluential and discerning community of this city, 
especially by the true American population ; a meaner 
man than a Jew might possibly be found to degrade 
himself by making the expression. 

If the Jews of this city, by their desire of seeing 
perpetuated a benighted holocaust system, have taken 
umbrage at the elevated position the Proprietors of the 
" Chronicle " have achieved ; the superior talent its 
Editors have displayed, and the perceptible activity of 
its employees, it no less evinces a lack of independ- 
ence and want of perception in them to appreciate an 
independent journal, by their unanimity of determina- 
tion to divest themselves of the advantages the Ameri- 
cans manifest by their superior intelligence and reliance 



79 



on extraordinary ability and perseverance. Had the 
same allusion been made to me, respecting any other 
Journal I thought proper to have in my possession, I 
should have resented the dastardly insult as akin to 
myself, and I trust have found words compatible to 
defend it. In presenting letters to the public anony- 
mously signed imposes an obligation, which truth 
alone can defend, and I shall shield myself under no 
other plea, as an excuse for not being a coward, than by 
repeating the words, copied from a Free distributed 
Reply to a Discourse on our Public .Schools in 1875, 
issued by one of the most prominent orthodox Israelites 
of this city : " As to my writing under a mask, I have 
been under the impression that it matters little to the 
general public, in a discussion of any principle, who 
may be the advocate on either side. An intelligent 
public, one would think, would be swayed by the 
reason and ai^gument, and not by the signature affixed 
to a communication, which, doubtless, is the reason 
why communications are signed by initials." 

I pity the want of dignity in those persons who write 
more for the satisfaction of lauding themselves than 
for any particular desire of discouraging evils or pro- 
moting virtue; and in the whole course of my life, I 
never regretted the want of means so much as I do 
to-day, that I am unable to distribute this work gratis. 



THE PUBLIC PRESS. 
What power on earth so great ! 
What influence so stupendous ! 
When dictated by unerring Truth, 
Devoid of all dissembling subterfuge, 
For fear of the results of showing a bold front 
By exposure, to expunge existing evils. 
Thrice cursed be he who wields a traitorous pen 
To play the sycophant to criminals of high degree, 
Or connive with error of outrageous hue. 
Words are but letters. Books are but words — 



80 



The ranking of each in its respective niche, 

To portray the coward, or the hero ; 

The former by his dastard acts ; 

The hero by his faultless majesty. 

So then does it become this mighty power 

To publish its due and rightful judgment 

To crush or elevate. 



CCOTCLUSIOK 

In conclusion, I desire to state that I have omitted 
man} 7 pertinent remarks and comparisons analogous to 
this attempt at reform, which I reserve for a future 
publication, as I intend to allow no stone to remain 
unturned, till all efforts fail me in reflecting every 
blasting error in its true light. My next subject I 
promise will be no less interesting to the public, nor 
will my applications be less seering to an equally per- 
nicious evil, which I have the presumption to imagine 
I am perfectl} 7 competent to expose to the very bone. 
Furthermore, I would add, that it is my intention to 
perfect my attempt at reform by dramatizing each 
work, for which I have secured the necessary copy- 
right. 



ERRATA. 

On page 4, for Spiro read Spero. 
11 4, 11 arriere 11 amere. 
" 30, " thousands read millions. 
" 36, " suffiance " sufferance. 



AN APPEAL TO THE JEWS, 

TO STIMULATE THEM TO OBTAIN A 



HIGHER STATE OF CIVILIZATION; 



AND OTHER MISCELLANEOUS MATTER FOR THE 
ADVANCEMENT OF 



MORAL DISCIPLINE. 



BY 



SEMPER VERITAS 



« 

SAN FRANCISCO: 

Francis & Valentine, Book and Job Printing House, 517 Clay St. 



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